I Remember
by wordspank
Summary: Two people tell their highschool memories... while their relationship grows. A smoochy fic. I hope you like long stories.
1. Look Behind

The 'I Remember' Series

Story 1 – I Remember

Rating overall: R, because I have to cut it down.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from the WWE. It's just that I'm borrowing them. And for Steph and Chris, I won't be returning them for a long, long time, but eventually, I will. :).

Feedback: Please. R&R. Come on, I need it. I need to know how I'm doing.

Author's notes: I was writing this in pencil, waaaay back when Jericho was still the Undisputed champion. I've altered the fic a bit, so that it would be a little more accurate and more adjusted to the time now. Sorry for that. Since this story was set quite sometime ago, I suppose I'll be making a bit of mistakes here and there, so bear with me. =). Remember, this is only FICTION, and it doesn't apply to real life.

This font is for the normal writing. _Italics stand for speaking in reality during memory recalls. *_Things that are within the stars are thoughts.* This: * means the scene is changed. This: ~*~ means that the scene from the memory goes back to reality. This: *** means the chapter has ended. ~ Things within the wavy lines are song lyrics. ~

Chapter 1 – Look BehindRating: PG-13

Starbucks. Alone.

Quarrels and rivalries weren't quite the causes here. Stephanie just wanted to relax, time to think about a lot of things, and the perfect way to do it was coffee in a small Starbucks outlet. It had been a really long day, trying to finish work behind the scenes. It was harder than she really thought. There was the whole Hunter thing as well. Still not divorced with such irritatingness. If there ever was a word like that.

"Hey babe," A voice called her as she stared blankly at the ripples the stirrer made in the coffee. She groaned when she saw Jericho smiling, looking down at her.

"What do you want?"

"I saw you sitting my yourself, so I thought you looked lonely and I decided to keep you company."

"Go away." She gave a frown and stirred her coffee some more.

"Hey, I'm trying to be nice to you. Remember that," he said. She rolled her eyes. "Besides, no one else can make you feel better than the living legend, Chris Jericho." He stressed on the words 'living legend' and trailed the words as well, to make himself sound greater than he actually was. "So, what's wrong?"

"Nothing was quite so wrong until you came." He took it as half a compliment. "What do you want?"

"A friend is trying to relieve you of your misery. Appreciate it."

"Appreciating, appreciating," she sighed.

"You haven't told me what's the matter."

"Duh, the husband problems."  
He seat himself across her, then put up his elbows on the table, in a praying manner and leaned his chin against his closed fists. "Why don't you divorce the guy? You hate him anyway."

"Daddy doesn't want us to file the papers yet. He has yet to take care of matters like the ownership of the company before me. I mean, what kind of dad is he sometimes?" She gave a sigh. "Right. He owns every single one of you wrestlers. And part of me as well."

"Hey, nobody, owns this champion-to-be here except me." His thumbs poked his solid chest, then set his forearms flat on the small table.

"Well, we're rich enough to sue your sorry ass. Anyway, life's pretty much a bitch now." She took a sip of coffee as Chris sat silent. "Steph, have you… Have you gotten an abortion in you life?"

Her eyes shot up at him. "What?"

He held up his hands in defence. "Just a question."

"…No." She set her cup down after gnawing on the styrofoam. "Why?"

"Like I said, just a question." He broke another moment of silence. "When did you first date?"

"What's with all the questions about my personal life?" she retorted.

"I'm making your day more interesting."

"My first instinct was that you came here to brag."

"Steph, I'm crushed that you think I brag."

She felt like laughing in his face. "I'm really not down now. I'm just having coffee." But since he brought up the subject, she was already kind of lying about her situation. He leaned forward. "Tell me."

She started off by copying his position. "It started when I was 16. Sophomore year in high school, and I saw him everyday. He sat two seats diagonally behind me to the left, and we threw notes to each other and launched gum at the teacher." She sighed. He gave a smile at the gum part. "He was 18, because he repeated 8th grade and sophomore year. It was weird that I don't remember his name or his face though. What's more, daddy never liked him…" Her cheek rested on her upheld palm, her eyes staring into space somewhere on the right of her table. "Well anyway," she snapped out of her trance, "I met him during the start of senior year…"

~*~

__

All I really remembered specifically about him was that he had this slightly below shoulder length hair in a ponytail, and a chin full off stubble. And he loved track pants and jerseys.

Stephanie slammed her locker shut. *They should change these. They rust and squeak and my books get all… gross.*

She tossed her hair back, with her bad slung over one shoulder, carrying her books on the side without the bag strap. She brushed off her halter-top and black pants to clear any filth that had spilled out from her locker. Her long brown hair fell straight behind her shoulders. She looked ready for a modelling interview, not for history class. As she glided through the hallway in her black sandal, the girls would stare at her annoyingly or in complete envy, their jaws dropping as she walked past. She entered class, which was still considerably empty, with only two people at their desks.

__

She sat down in her seat, leaving her bag on the inner left-head corner of her table leg. She popped some gum into her mouth and decided to wait and slack before lesson started. "Hey, babe!"

"Hey babe." Stephanie realised that she was the one being called, and lazily turned her head.

"What?"

"What's with the bitchy look?"

"Y'know, that's rude. If that's your way of picking girls up, you're gonna stay single until a hoe marries you in your eighties."

"Ooh," he taunted, pretending to be intimidated, "Sorry." He tried to irritate her with a cheesy smile.

"Stop it," she laughed. The morning bell sung in the hallway, and the students started to pour in slowly.

"Babe!" Stephanie rolled her eyes and turned. "What?" He made her sound like an animal… It was in a book… A pig was it? It didn't matter.

"What's your name?"

"Stephanie MacMahon. And don't you forget it. Now leave me alone." She turned back to find about most of the students already seated.

"Whoa. So you're the Stephanie. And your dad's the chairman of a wrestling company right?" A few heads turned at that.

"Thanks for giving away my identity. You know how fast the word travels and people will start to think I'm a rich snob, making a useful friend out of me. Nice going there."

"No sweat princess." She gave a sigh as the teacher walked in. "Morning class."

"Morning Baldo," she mumbled as the other students mumbled other things of their own.

"Now, has anyone heard of the accident Mr. Mildred had?" The class fell silent. Some were not even bothered to listen. "Well he had an accident with cycling yesterday."

"He cycles?" A student with her slick fringe covering one eye sniggered. She was chewing gum, like Stephanie and almost every other pupil. "I can't believe it! I mean I can. He's so fat, I thought the wheels would explode from too much pressure. And ooh, the cellulite on his legs… Some guy must've tripped the bike because of that." That class was smiling at the pictures in their heads. "And that face---"

"That's enough Miss Lindon. This is a traumatic event that has occurred." The teacher folded his arms. "Anyway, he teaches you math and science, if I'm right, and since he is in no condition to teach you, you will not see him for the next three weeks." Most of the student cheered, except for Stephanie. *Here comes the but…* she thought. "But." The high fives stopped. "It gives me great pleasure to tell you that I, Mr. Harrim, will be taking over with either history or geography lessons." The class groaned and spouted curses. "All right," he continued, "spit out your gum now before we begin our lesson." The same girl that commented on Mr. Mildred's cycling accident smiled. "Everyone on three." Those that had gum in their mouths got ready. "One." They reached into their bags or pockets and came up with a plastic spoon. "Two." They balled their gum and placed it on the space. The teacher protested, but it was too late. Stephanie just loved this part. "Three." They all propelled their coloured candy at their teacher and for him, he shielded his face with his hands and arms. To his dismay, about four to five out of twelve or thirteen had hit him.

"That's not funny Miss Lindon." She laughed as she looked at the other students and silently mocked him. "Well, let's see how you laugh at the principal's office, shall we?" Her jaw fell as her laughter stopped.

*

"Hey, you with the dangly earrings! MacMahon!"

"What?"

"I saw you actually paying attention to Harrim."

"I don't want to fail my semester." She was about to turn on her heel, until the girl stopped her again.

"The blonde guy, even if the hair colour ain't totally real… He likes ya." She had a huge grin on her face as she said that. "Oh, it's my turn now, if you'll excuse me," she said as a boy stepped out of the office. "See ya. By the way, the name's Pryce. Pryce Lindon." 

"Well I'm off to the cafeteria now."

Stephanie hated the beginning of school terms. Even if it was the third week already. No one took care to notice her, and she was happy with that until that lousy jock did and gave away her status as a MacMahon. If only she could kick his ass.

_At the cafeteria, I met the same guy again. While I was in line, he jumped the queue._

"Hey, you're cutting the line."

"Too bad. You just gotta deal."

"You have no right! Get out! You don't know who I--- HEY! Are you listening?!"

"Could you just shut, the hell, up? You're making a lot of noise." She huffed and put the matter aside, mumbling little curses at him. *Stupid idiotic evil asshole mule man-whore fruitcake no good slacker…* She skipped everything except the salads while artificial blondie walked off with oily, high-fat intakes. *…Irritating S.O.B horrible filthy sarcastic mean impossible---*

"Are you moving off? Because you're holding up the line," the guy standing behind her said. She apologised, hurrying away. She sat at the empty table farthest away from the bugger, and soon she was joined by Pryce. *Pryce is such a weird name,* she thought.

"You avoiding the guy?"

"Duh. I mean, he jumped right in front of me in the queue." Pryce gave it a little thought.

"Attention seeking. He likes ya." Stephanie huffed in her sarcastic way and looked back at the guy. Then she shook her head, obviously denying Pryce's hypothesis.

"No way! Look at the boneheads around him! They're all a class ahead of us. He's probably the dumbest jock of the lot."

"If he's dumb, you're probably dumb---"

"Hey! It was because I didn't study much last year. Otherwise, I wouldn't be having such a bad time now."

Price smiled. "So you really hate it here?" Stephanie blinked.

"Not that---"

"You know, I never worked hard in my life. Drugs, drinks and sex all the time. And I know I never will work hard for as long as I live. Take a look around in class. Boy with the bandanna? Once he has his eye on you he's ready to go after you and go to the most drastic measures to get laid. Not very nice of him but he can't help it. No one can change. And only they themselves can change."

"Wow. Pretty good words from a girl like you." She paused. "He sleeps with anyone?"

"Look at him. He's the dreamiest guy you'll ever lay your eyes on. Charming too y'know." She pointed at him, the table just behind Stephanie. "That's him. James Callow. Remember that once he has his target set, you'll never escape. And you'll most probably succumb… Friggin' playboy." Stephanie turned to look at him. She was right. His purple bandanna covered his head, and he had bright eyes. The dark goatee made him look even better. But like Pryce said… *Friggin' playboy.*

Unfortunately for her, after recovering from laughs and high fives with his small clique, he had noticed Stephanie looking at him. She immediately turned back to Pryce, who was watching Steph all the time, and shrugged. "Definitely no chance with me."

"Because you like the dumb jock over there don't---"

"Shutup!" She laughed light-heartedly. "…You know his name?"

"Sorry babe. He's never been in the same class as me. I know you're eager to know him, but love takes time."

"Me? Love? No Love. Nuh-uh. Stephanie waved her hands in front of her. "No, love." She just remembered her uneaten salad. *Who gives a damn about some salad anyway? I'm not hungry.*

_Pryce may look and talk like a punk, but deep down inside, she's the perfect friend. I don't think she had many at the time. It was possible that I was her only one. That day when she told me about James, I didn't care. But what happened later in time was entirely different. The Barbie, well, he didn't come in that importantly until that later in time. Then, friendly love hate relationships grew more than that…_

"Get out of my face."

"Saw you and the rock chick hanging out. Guess she was telling you about the class people." Stephanie tried to ignore him. "You know, you don't know me yet." He held out a hand. "My name's---"

_Damn! I can't remember!_

She took his hand. "Nice to have a little truce," she said.

"We were never enemies."

"Whatever." She walked back to class, the boy following.

~*~

"Look at the time." Stephanie frowned at her watch.

"I have the whole day," Jericho said, trying to keep her there and listen to her life story. Well, love life development in her adolescent years story.

"Well, I don't. There's always tomorrow, right?"

"Tomorrow's the next show… We won't have time."

"Before the show. 5 or 6?" she stood up, gulping down her coffee and then after setting it down, she left the shop. Jericho had given a nod before she left.

*James Callow… He sounds familiar…* He picked up the lip-stained cup and took a sip. He realised that it was a left over, frowning in disgust. The name still bugged him.

He could only wait for the next day.

***


	2. I Remember

The 'I Remember' Series

Story 1 – I Remember

Chapter 2 – I RememberRating: PG-13

Stephanie was in her personal room reading on fashion. It was like food to the brain. Fashions were like cuisine, 'A' class. There was a rap at the door. "Who is it?"

"Chris."

"Come in." She removed her glasses. Contacts were just too troublesome that day. "You don't have to look at me like that, I've worn spectacles all my behind-the-scenes-non-going-out-life. And don't make any comments."

"Okay, okay, I won't." Jericho grabbed a chair and seated himself in front of her. "So, with that guy. The idiot? How did you get things happening with him?"

"It really wasn't that fast. It took off with meeting me at my locker, after school."

~*~

_At that time, the thought of us walking to my home together was undoubtedly the freakiest, most weird thing to do. But now, when I think of it, it was a really sweet thing._

"You walk home?"

"Yeah. What's wrong with that?"

"Shouldn't you have a lime or something? You're filthy rich."

"Whatever."

"You could raise my allowance."

"You wish."

"I'm wishing." He paced beside her. "Where's your house?"

"We're not there yet."

"I know that."

"So?"

"Okay, fine. I'll just follow you back."

"Why would you want to? I mean, are you planning to be my stalker or something? I know I'm really nice and all, but I really think you shouldn't, 'cause it's really creepy."

"Who'd want to stalk someone like you? I'm just a little lost puppy, waiting for you to take me to your home."

"Puppy? Dinosaur, more like it," she mumbled.

"Very funny. How 'bout dropping by that place there?" He had pointed to a small eatery.

"Sure."

As they stepped into the air-conditioned outlet, the place had wafts of grilled fish, chicken and beef, of fries and oil. Stephanie ordered blondie to take her bags and wait for her at a table, asking what he wanted.

"Number five," he said, in a game show host tone. She walked off with the orders in her head. After speaking to the cashier, she waited. There was the constant crackle and sizzles of oil, and it scared her a bit about her food contents. *Once in a while. You can work the fat off. * She hurriedly lifted the tray and brought it to the table, carefully making sure that the drinks didn't spill. She bent to set it on the table.

"What're you so happy about?"

"You see, I had a little scene from here down that top of yours." Her jaw dropped, flushing a little.

"And you went on? Oh, you sick little pervert!" Oh eew!" He shrugged and helped himself to his lunch. Stephanie sat quiet. *Maybe I should do that more often. It's so much more peaceful with out her running her mouth like that, * he thought. Steph munched on a couple of fries and then wolfed down her burger. "Go easy there. I don't want you choking."

"Whatever," she managed with her mouth full. He took a large bite out of his own meal, glancing at her, and realised that hers was gone. She kept fidgeting, putting on a little frown and biting her bottom lip.

"I didn't mean to! It was and accident okay?" He added with a mumble, "If you didn't have to have that much flesh to cover it'd be so much easier…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing." She pouted at him. "Keep doing that and your face will stay that way."

"I'm not a kid---"

"You're acting like one."

As soon as they finished their meals, she took her bag and her files in hand with the boy following. She walked and talked to him.

"You're gonna help me with history right?"

"Depends on the hospitality given." She sighed and gave her distinct eye roll. "You could hear those eye rolls. It messes with the telepathic stream around."

"Telepathic stream? When was there ever such a thing? If there were my streams and messages can't get through to that block on your neck."

"With so much air in your head, it's no wonder I experience the same ordeal." She sighed again. She took a turn as he followed. "I hate Math."

"And ugh," she continued for him, "biology. I missed the dissecting. Now it's all so… Boring." She paced slower and turned at a sign. "Shane's just slacking at home." At the traffic light, the cars strolled past, some white smoke fuming from the muffler of one. Using one hand, she fanned away some of the smoke from her face. "Dad's too busy with the company and mom's always away with business. Shane's my only companion. I'd rather call him my worst enemy. Either way, he's annoying. So just mind him." The green words flashed dully, a signal for the pedestrians to cross. Steph brisk-walked across, expecting her 'mate' to catch up. "If you do see Shane don't bother. Just say hi or something. Nothing else." He remained silent up to her front door.

"Don't you have keys?" She knocked the door with a closed fist. "No, I don't. Mom doesn't trust me."

"So mama's boy has 'em." He reached into his pockets and his hand appears a small hairpin, or at least something that looked like one.

"OPEN THE DOOR SHANE!"

Kneeling down, he shoved the pin into the keyhole and twisted a bit until there was a loud click. "I'm ramming the door down if you don't open it!" She took a deep breath as the boy prepared to open the door. Then she charged as he pushed it open slowly. With a terrifying scream, she fell over a thick white L-shaped sofa, and rolled over backwards to hit the coffee table. "DAMN YOU!" she raised her fist at him. He chuckled evilly, closing the door behind him and throwing the bad on her couch. Jumping over the couch and landing in a perfect cross-legged position, he held a hand out and she took it willingly, pulling with all her might to get herself up. *Wow, strong arms,* she thought, but it was washed away by the other thought of homework.

"Shall we begin?" he rubbed his hands together.

"Ah, enthusiasm in history. Harrim should nominate you to be his pet. A loser role for the complete loser." She took out a stack of papers, both blank and filled. "Can we do something not related to the guy?"

"Then we don't have homework." Stephanie frowned. "It's your choice. Either history… or just history. You won't have anymore choices. And you have to show me around."

"Why do you need a tour?"

"Do you want homework help or not?" He paused. "Actually, come to think of it, let's go to your room."

"My--- what?"

"Room. Place where you spend your time sleeping and dreaming about the next day."

"I know that. But my room?"

"Well, we can get more privacy there."

"Or you'd get into my pants."

He grinned. "If you want me to." He listened for her eye roll. "There it is!"

"There is what?"

"Your eye rolling. You have to stop that." She was about to do it again until he waved a finger at her. "Keep doing that and your kids will follow. You don't want to find eyeballs on the carpet." She huffed and carried her unzipped bag with one shoulder and her thick stack of work in one hand up the stairs. Blondie followed after her like how he followed her home.

The carpeted steps led to a full carpeted floor on parquet, and there was this big hallway. He shuffled his feet on the maroon carpet, then stomped a little. "What are you doing?"

"How do you cover this whole place with carpet?"

"Feels nice huh? It was dad's idea, so when the floor's cold, the carpet will keep our feet warm. Cold feet can cause rheumatism."

The boy looked around. The place smelled like fresh pines. The doors were made of a polished teak, a light tan colour that brightened the plain white walls. Along the left side of the corridor was a row of four doors, two of which had signs on them. On the right was a large room with sliding glass doors. Inside were two cushioned chairs, a desk with a small black table lamp, and a decent grey office chair. Three thick, heavy looking drawers posed as part of the desk on the lower right hand side of it. A metal cabinet lay in the far right hand corner of the room. Steph dragged him further on. To the left of that room, was a small open balcony space with a white wooden railing. He took a peep over, and saw the whole view of the ground floor. The parquet filled the place from the bottom of the stairs (which couldn't be seen from his view) all the way to the doorstep. Large houses always did fascinate him a bit. He hadn't seen the whole house after all. Ahead was the door that was left open. *Probably the parents' room…* She pulled his arm. "You want to go into my room or not?"

"Yeah, yeah I do. But wow. This is what I call, a HOUSE."

"Whatever." She yanked his arm, pulling him into her room with all of her might. He yelped in surprise, falling forward, but he managed to keep his balance and stay on his feet. "Intriguing."

"Are you kidding me? This is my room! My room is sacred." He wandered around. Her room was… Big. Like the size of his parent's bedroom. The walls were panted a baby pink, adorned with posters ---autographed posters--- that lay in a thin frame. Her bed ---probably a queen size--- had curtains on the four sides, very much like royalty. The top of the curtain was suspended by a chandelier-like object that nailed itself dead centre in the ceiling. The bed sheets were a milky yellow and the comforter, a charming lavender that seemed like it shone against the small rays of sunlight that seeped through the closed window.

He sat himself on the bed and he landed with a bounce. "Holy crap. Is this velvet?"

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Nothing of his imagination added up to this house. To the tight of the bed, there was a drawer set of four, the same yellow as the bed sheets. There were childish or rather a hippie design of flowers on it. The same kind of desk that he saw in the glass door room was opposite the length of the bed, taking up space of a whole corner of the room. "Like it here?"

"If the colours weren't so girlish in here, hell, I'd take the room." She sat on the chair that was in front of the desk and sorted her pages of homework. "Um… Starting without me?" She simply kept silent while she searched for her pencil case. He sighed toward her reaction and reached into his own bad for his stuff. "Chapter two, World War two, and two hours slaving on these questions. I haven't read a single word." She put down her bag.

"Not one?" He shook his head. "Ups for me, 'cause at least I know that I won't be the last in this class after all for my mid-year." He ignored her remark, then took out his textbook, flipping to chapter two. "No hard feelings here, but I don't think you have brain enough to store all that facts."

"Well then, I'm sorry that your brain matter has fallen to your boobs."

"Was that an insult?" She frowned and whipped out her pencil case, unzipping it quickly and grabbing a pen. "You realise that I can stab you with this."

"That's if I'm some immobile freak. But I'm not. I'm a warm fuzzy teddy bear. Give me a hug and I'll be happy. Hug, hug?" He held out his arms in a welcoming manner. She pouted and giggled in her own sweet way, throwing the pen aside. "You wish," she told him, and joined him on the bed.

"I'm wishing, I'm wishing a lot," he laughed. She pushed him hard at the shoulder, casing him to fall off the bed. "Oops, sorry," she laughed, "I guess that's how I treat teddy bears."

"Well do you kiss them?" She glared at him.

"No! I don't kiss people like you."

"Betcha that you've never kissed anyone in your life. How 'bout sharing that first one with me?"

"Go away!" she changed the subject. "Remember that we've got history." She took the text from his lap. "Now, first question. How did---"

"I don't know. I told you, I don't read the text."

"Then how do you get through the tests and examinations?"

"I just pull through with confidence in my common sense and general knowledge."

"I didn't know you had those kid of qualities."

"What?" He smiled. "Doesn't mean I can't be smart enough to be confi---"

"I meant, I didn't know that you had common sense and that bit a general knowledge." Steph took a deep breath and read out Harrim's history question. "Who had started the war in the year nineteen thirty-nine, what can you account for the leader's actions, the effect it had on the society, the consequences and the reactions of the foreigner, and explain the proliferation of rebellion."

"Huh?" She sniggered at his reaction.

"Well, I guess I'm on my own."

"No no no no no. Tell me in simpler English. Come on, I know how to do it."

_We talked 'til it was late and funny though, this guy… he wasn't as bad as I made out to be._

"What time is it?" Steph asked.

"7.20."

"I think you'd better go. We're done anyway with history. So, I'll see you tomorrow?" He thought for a while.

"I thought of skipping." He frowned. "Isn't there some… check tomorrow? Like they kinda search your bags for some illegal stuff that you might be carrying or something?"

"You just want to skip spot checks? That is SO lame. I wouldn't miss classes unless I got down with a disease."

"What are you? A smartass? Camel?"

"Camel?" she repeated after him. "I study for my future," she said. "Be someone to help dad."

"I wanna be a sportsman. Well, I'm kinda trying to train for different things. Hockey maybe, just like my dad. Difficult to say." He stoned for a moment then picked up his stuff and shoved them into his bag. Standing up, he opened the room door, and Steph followed him. Going down the carpeted step, across the classic polished look of parquet, past the big couch and then finally to the door. "Guess this is it."

"Yeah, well kinda." She had this decent, cute girlish smile on, which she never really had as she prepared to close the door. "Well, bye."

Her fingers accidentally slipped and the door slammed. Outside, there was an extremely loud shout, long and continuos. Immediately she opened the door –and the agony on his face—she saw his thumb swelling and bleeding, and noticed the colour of dark red staining the step.

"SHIT! Go DO SOMETHING TO STOP THISFUCKINGTHUMBFROMFALLINGOFF!" he yelled.

"Oh, God." She hesitated, then ran off somewhere back into the house. His vision was marred with patterns and colours and he couldn't keep balance very well. Holding on to his nail in place was the tough part. "STEPHANIE!" he shouted with rage.

"H-hurry up and come in," she stammered, pulling his hand towards her. "I'm SO sorry." As a natural reaction, he cursed and swore and hollered and yelled. He looked like he was about to pass out; who wouldn't, after his thumb was almost snapped into half? Steph apologised repeatedly, fumbling with the bandages and surgical tape. The white cloth went round and the tape was plastered across the cut end of the bandage. She apologised again. "Go see a doctor."

He wanted to kill her and everything else, but he couldn't blame her for being so careless with the door. He made a mental note: *Never buy a home with heavy doors. * He bit his lip to control his anger, took a deep breath, then sighed. No use screaming at her anyway.

"I'm really, REALLY, EXTREMELY sorry."

"…It's no problem."

She was surprised at his reaction to her fault. "…Well, make sure you go see a doctor, promise?"

_I was freaked, what else could I say? I brought him to the doctors and they diagnosed his injury as a fractured thumb. He lost a nail and he had to live with a giant thumb for two and a half months._

~*~

Jericho was very silent for those few moments.

"Is there a problem?" she asked.

"…No, it's nothing." He resumed with staring at his own thumb. "Must've really hurt like hell."

"Yeah, it did, for him." She glanced at the clock on her desk.

"I've got a meeting to attend in an hour," she smiled. "At least now that I'm behind the screen, I have less stuff to do. Just have to focus on paperwork now." She patted his knee and stood up. "I'm off." But Jericho thought about that accident even after she had left the room.

*It must've really hurt huh? I should know. * He looked dazed. *Since it was my thumb after all. *

***

*Pearlyn pats the heads of the good little girls and boys who knew what was coming.* :P


	3. My Turn

The 'I Remember' Series

Story 1 – I Remember

Author's note(s): This time, Jericho knows that it's him in her memories, so in reality while talking to Stephanie, he will address the Steph in the past anonymously. E.g. 'that girl', etc. And a fair warning: this is gonna get angsty in time to come. I think.

Chapter 3 - My TurnRating: R for a tad bit of language. Or is it PG-13?

It finally came back to him. He dated Stephanie MacMahon in sophomore year! No wonder, the way she described her house and all…He could picture it perfectly the way it was. And the way she was. Well, he would keep this whole thing a secret, just to hear what she had to say about him. Or rather the 'jock'. It was one day off for him since he didn't work on RAW anymore. All he had to do was to get a handful of insults and fling them at someone, which was what normally caused the feuds on Smackdown! to spark off. And he needed to work out more, since having a show less would contribute to laziness, which in turn led to fat. He really didn't like fat, especially on his own body. Then he thought of fat with Stephanie. He made a face and cringed. But all that was beside the point. The cafeteria he sat in was nice and quiet, with the exceptions of a few people that stared at him in surprise, or in something else. He didn't care.

"Hey. Fancy bumping into you all the time. What's up with the look on your face?" Stephanie asked.

"Nothing," he replied. * At least she wasn't fat last time in high school. * She sat down opposite of him. "I'm surprised you still follow the business around the world. Or North America at least."

"Hello? I need my job. Anyway, I think it's pretty sensible to follow your father on business trips to learn a few things. And see my fucking husband." She gritted her teeth slightly, looking at a spot on the table.

"Whoa, cool it Steph. I don't want any veins to pop." She fixated her eyes on him, her expression finally calming down. "I'm sorry."

"S'ok," he said. "Wanna hear my story?"

"Does it contain any sex? Because if you do, I don't want to know the details."

Chris shook his head. "…No. Not any from what I remember anyway."

"Okay, good. Continue."

~*~

__

What I can remember vividly was the girl I met two weeks (or so) ago. She was really rich and snotty at first, but we were friends anyway. I seemed to like her a lot as a friend, and I guess it was a crush. I don't know about now really. I have that feeling that I still do.

Stephanie marched out of class with a frown on her face. Chris chased out after her, carrying a mass of books stuffed untidily under his arms. "Hey, wait up."

"Wait?! You just volunteered me to play the role of Juliet in a stupid gay Shakespearean play."

"I'm sorry. How could I resist? You're so… Juliet."

_It began in class where our teacher wanted us to do a play production for the school. It sucked, but I thought it would be great if she were up for the main._

"Romeo and Juliet, the remake," the teacher chirped with joy. Her hands made a frame from her fingers, visualising the play already taking place in it. "Now how about the role of Romeo?"

Heads were turned at people simultaneously, delivering smiles to each other to encourage them to take the role. There was a hand raised at the back of the class. There was teasing and taunting, cheering at the clique of punks at the back. "I'll do it," James voice projected to the teacher. He connected a brotherly fist with a guy who held out his hand. Chris never thought he would actually participate in this kind of a project.

"And now for Juliet," the teacher smiled again. The whole class was quiet, until Chris stepped on Stephanie's foot, hard. "AYE!" She jumped from her seat.

"Oh wonderful Miss MacMahon! Such enthusiasm you show! The class should follow your example."

"But Miss--="

"Hush now dear, settle down. We still have to select the other characters." Stephanie obeyed against her own will. She turned to have a gland at James, who gave her a playful wink. He was getting to her.

She sulked at getting her new role. "Why did you do that?!" she whispered in a harsh tone. Chris shrugged. "You NUMBNUT!" she softly cursed, "you'd better be doing something good." Immediately, he raised his hand.

"I'll be costume head."

Stephanie slapped her palm to her forehead, then made her hand into a fist and thudded it against the wooden table. He sniggered, as the teacher clapped her hands together, praising the class again. There was a strong sound of whispers in the room, and many people started to raise their hands to volunteer themselves a part, as well as discussing matters about the play.

"Costume design?!" she gruffly said, her whisper now a soft hoarse voice.

"You told me to do something useful, so I did!" he said frantically. "I can take your measurements---"

"What?" she exclaimed, her volume lowered by the noise of the rest of the class.

"OH. I didn't mean it that way! I mean, I can decide what corsets you'll wear! Oh wait, I mean I can decide what you wear!" he said alarmingly, his mind not able to catch up with his mouth. He needed to slap himself the get his words straight. The teacher sang for them to sit down and be quiet, settling the confirmation.

_So I got her to do something like that. She didn't like it. It wasn't my fault though, right?_

"I said I'm sorry," he said, his books finally a manageable stack in his arms. "Come on. I promise that you'll look like a princess."

"It's not about that. It's my oh-so-wonderful co-star. I just think that y'know… I don't know."

"Hey baby," her fellow actor flashed a smile. "Practice one part, say… Smooching?"

"…No." She used a finger against his chest to push him back. "Let's go Chris." He obeyed, trying to catch up.

"That's okay. Just wanted to tell you that you got it."

When she was sure that they weren't in his view anymore, she turned to face Chris. "You see the uncertainty? I mean, he could be okay. But.."

"Just kick him in the nuts if he does anything. No sweat."

"You realise that I have no vicious fangs or any paralysing venom to keep him immobilised, don't you?" she said.

"Well, it'd be worth a try."

"On you?"

"Oh NO! What kind of sick person are you?!"

"And you're telling me," she replied. She sighed and proceeded to her locker. Nowhere near Callow's, which was just great. "What's wrong with me? You're right y'know. I should just kick him and run away."

"Well, if you really don't like the idea of acting with him, then you could tell Miss Windell that--"

"It's okay," she assured, closing a line with her fingers, like a conductor would do to end the piece. "I think I'll be fine." Just then, Pryce had caught up with them.

"'Sup C." Chris raised a brow at his new nickname. She turned to Steph. "Are you nuts or something? I told you to be careful about him."

"I know, I know," she sighed, using a finger to curled her fallen lock from her forehead behind her ear. "Thanks to Mr Itchy foot here."

"I already said I was–"

"It's not that, you friggin' dumbass," Pryce said. "You don't know him anyway." She put an arm around her friend and brought her aside, making sure Chris couldn't hear. "Girl, you watch that back of yours. He's capable."

"Capable? What do you mean--- Oh come on Pryce, he wouldn't go that far. He's got enough to attract already," Steph rolled her eyes.

"Are you interested already?! 'Cause I know blondie's still got a little thing for ya…" Pryce teased. Steph looked at her incredulously. "Oh come on. Quit your role."

"And miss out the chance to be famous?" She paused. *Where did that come from…* "Whatever," she said, "I just suddenly feel like doing it. I'm stuck on it. Like a fly to sticky paper. Or something like that," she said, stopping each time she realised that her words didn't make sense.

"You're telling me you want it? I mean, are you nuts? One minute you're telling me that screwball over there was an idiot getting you into this and now, you're loving it?"

"I don't know Pryce. Suddenly you're coming up to tell me about Callow back there." She pointed her thumb to the direction. "What's the point Pryce?" Chris looked at the pair whose quarrels weren't getting so private anymore. "You talk about rape…Why are you doing this?" Stephanie's voice was strained and distressed. Thank god it wasn't high pitched, or Chris would have to bring earplugs the next day.

"HE DID IT OKAY?! I WAS RAPED BY THAT FUCKING RETARD YOU'RE GOING TO ACT WITH!!! ARE YOU HAPPY?!" Her face was glowing red, and Steph could feel the heat of her anger emanating from her body. Pryce brisked away quietly, leaving Steph a bit traumatised about the truth. The people around her were silent; some staring at the path Pryce had left from. Some jaws were dropped, and others resumed quietly with what they were doing before.

Chris stepped up. "W-we can talk on the way."

*

"I'm really confused myself. I don't want to do the role because I'll be feeling really absurd, being the only one to do it. That's totally uncool. But if I do make a good performance, I would be known for my talent, not my cash. You get me?" Chris had his hands in his pockets.

"Mmm," he replied. She didn't notice his inattentive attitude. "About the James guy," he began before she said anything else, "You like him?" Stephanie kept silent for a moment.

"Well, he's charming. He's a little playful, so, I guess, a little bit."

"Oh."

That 'oh' didn't sound very good. Disappointment? Surprise? She didn't know what he was thinking then.

"Look, it's only a little. I'll take care, don't worry."

Her sneakers squeaked as they landed on the wet grass. The sky was a misty white colour, with heavy milky grey clouds casting over the houses a few yards away from where they were walking. "Damn, it's going to rain. Come on." She walked even faster ahead. Back on dry pavement, her wet shoeprints from the grass left darkened spots behind.

"Are you always in a rush?" He struggled with his books. "Damn it I can't keep my walking pace like Charlie Brown!"

"Charlie Brown? Since when did you have the same walking pattern as him?" A low rumble of thunder was heard from probably a mile away. Then suddenly, a very light drizzle descended upon them, the tiny droplets increasing in size as they felt heavier every few moments. "Hurry up!" Steph shouted.

"Hurrying, hurrying," he replied, charging towards the doorstep. He thanks hard football and hockey training for his ability to charge. But the door opened, accidentally driving his shoulder into someone. There was a loud 'oof', then Stephanie came in.

"Who the hell are you?"

"He's a friend," Stephanie answered.

"Well, don't bother about the future in-laws. They're never home."

"Oh shut up Shane."

"This is your brother?" Chris asked. "Cool."

"He's not my boyfriend, idiot. He's my study partner," she said. Chris hopped straight back up. "So buddy, let's go upstairs!" She said sarcastically, faking her enthusiasm clearly.

"Right on partner!" Chris grinned, playing along.

"Well, just no sex. The bed bangs the walls and it's disturbing downstairs. You're underage too." Stephanie's cheeks burned red. Chris just grinned harder.

"Hey, I'm still as pure as I am okay? And for the record, you should be the one being quiet, sex or not." She stomped up the stairs in complete embarrassment.

"Someone's got their hormones charged," Chris teased. She slapped him in the chest with the back of her hand. "Ow, that hurt."

"Well, it's supposed to. Who told you to have such a big mouth?"

Still he grinned, right until he entered her room. "Stop that. It's weird," Steph said, looking at his smile.

"I'm just grinning about how you blush at the mention of hmm, let me see… Sex?"

"Hey! You… I…" She sighed defeatedly, her face a fierce blush.

"So who do you think of?…" he put a finger to his chin and tapped. "Hmm, maybe---"

"EWW! Oh yuck you sick freak!" She grabbed a pillow a slammed it against his head. "How could you think of such things?" He frowned and nursed a sore temple.

"I'm a guy. Go figure," he replied. "Okay, let's get on. How's Pryce now?"

"I don't know. I didn't know about anything like that. God, I screwed up real badly today…" She gave a big sigh. "James is pretty decent you know…"

"What? You call 'wanna rehearse a smooch' decent?"

"He was just teasing."

"So? You actually resort to extreme violence when I do it."

She frowned. "It's different with you."

"In a good---"

"Not in a good way." She rolled her eyes. "Boys," she muttered.

"Boy?! I'm a man dammit." He paused. "Really?"

"Yes, really. But I like boys. Men are so boring sometimes." She reached out for her textbook and flipped it open. She then grabbed a pen and prepared to ask away.

*

_A day later, she was up for the very first day of rehearsal for the play. It was the actors, a few students, and the teacher._

"Looking good." Chris chewed his lip.

"Thanks," she replied, her eyes returning to the script. She softly recited to herself, trying to roughly add in the stage directions as well.

"Where's Callow?" Chris asked. "Thought he was your acting buddy."

"He's in the football field." Stephanie's hand holding the papers dropped to her side. "Could you go get his ass here to rehearse?" she said. "For me?"

"Yeah. Sure." He dropped his bad on the wooden chair and walked out of the hall. He brisked to the connecting corridor to the school hallway, to the two red wooden doors that had two horizontal blue shades pulled down. Chris pushed open the doors, the sunlight pouring in and the heat hitting his face. He squinted. James was throwing the ball to someone, in full football attire, but without the helmet. Chris frowned, taking steps to the green grass.

"Hey! Callow!" he shouted. James turned his head then got rammed down by his fellow team-mates. They piled on top of each other one by one, hearing exclamations and 'oof's whenever anyone added to the human pile. As soon as all of them retreated, James got up.

"What?" he yelled back. Chris huffed, then ran a few meters ahead.

"Stephanie wants you to go rehearse with her."

"Well TELL HER I'm BUSY."

"…Get there NOW." The sun shone brighter, the heat threatening to set everything on the field on fire.

James threw down the ball. "Alright! Alright." He ran to the locker room, then in a minute or so he appeared, dressed in his usual leather pants, jacket, white tee and that purple bandanna he always wore.

*He must be nuts wearing a jacket in this weather. *

"Ah, pfft." He pushed Chris aside. "She can wait."

"Hey, treat her with respect."

"What are you? Her husband?" James had stopped in his tracks.

"No, but I know that I can protect her from creeps like you."

James held his arms apart. "Well I'm not doing anything. Yet." Chris frowned.

"Don't you dare." James was still in the same position as if he were expecting an embrace, his lips pursed together. Chris suddenly felt something hit him. He had the NERVE to spit in his face. Upon impact, his eyes closed, his expression a very slight frown, even a bit of worry on his face. James backed away with defiance then turned his back.

Chris wiped off his face, flicking he saliva on his fingers off. He wiped whatever that was left on a nearby wall. *Asshole. * He followed the path of James, leaving the back door to the front of the school field open. He was too annoyed with James to bother closing it, even if he was a very considerate boy. *Who the hell does this guy think he is? Definitely NOT the king of the highschool. *

When he did reach the auditorium, James was already sucking up to Steph. Complimenting her, whispering sweet nothings in her ear…

"Oh Chris, you won't believe what James told me. He's got that really radical black Peugeot…"

Her voice then trailed off to nothing.

*Even Steph is so hooked to him. What kind of suck up, stuck up, jerk is this guy? I mean maybe you've got the looks, the car, but COME ON, don't tell me that you're gonna use them to take advantage on poor Steph---"

"Chris? CHRIS?! Are you listening to me?" she asked.

"…I'm going home." Stephanie let out a silent "Wha—", while Chris stuffed whatever he could in his bag and lifted the strap over his shoulder. The rest of his books he carried by hand.

"But you said---"

"II changed my mind. I'm going home."

"But Chris…" she started. He walked away.

_I was angry, what could I say? I didn't know I liked her so much I guess at the time, I felt really ignored. Like a spare tyre._

Chris walked home in silence. But it just wasn't the same in his head. There was a constant frown on his face. He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and followed the sidewalk.

*Steph isn't my type. I mean she's rich... She has got brains, even if she's in my class, she's… Yeah, and she's absolutely GORGEOUS. Beautiful. You can't just call her PRETTY. There I go, ranting about her! Why can't I stop?

*I know that I CAN'T be in love with her. Could I? No, no Chris. You can't. You KNOW it. You know that she likes Callow. It's only right for you to let her do what she wants. You don't control her life. Besides, you've only known her two weeks. Fine. Two and a half.

*But it's like I've known her all my life. She's told me everything. She doesn't have anything to hide. WE have nothing to hide.

*Oh my God. I really am in love with her! *

He stopped dead in his tracks. He needed to tell someone. Oh! His best friend Conor O' Brian. His place wasn't far from his own house. They didn't talk as much as they used to, ever since… Steph came into the picture and his nest fiend had a girlfriend.

Once he was at his doorstep, he rang the bell. The door swung open. "Chris?"

"Yo Con. I got… I HAVE to tell you something."

"Uh… Sure." He opened the door fully. "Come on in."

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Nah." Conor turned off the television. "Chillin' out. Miss Levenand didn't give us anything to do today."

"Miss Brighton. You know no one escapes from the wrath of homework from her."

"Yeah." He sat on a beanbag chair in the middle of the room of the chairs and sofas. "You wanted to tell me?"

"Oh, um… Conor, you won't believe it dude."

"Don't call me dude."

"I know, but…"

"Tell me when you're ready." Conor popped a crisp into his mouth.

"…I'm in love Con."

"WHAT?!" He grinned. "With MacMahon, eh?"

"Yeah. Totally," he grinned too. "Is it that obvious?" Conor just kept grinning. Then suddenly Chris face fell. "…But she likes someone else."

"Bummer." Conor gestured for Chris to come over.

"Yeah?"

"All I can say is that you've only known her for two week. I suppose you haven't told her how you feel." Chris opened his mouth to say something, but Conor held up a finger to stop him. "It's too early to tell."

"…But---"

"Chris, get a hold of yourself first. Know her like the back of your hand, THEN you'll be able to really see if she's the one for you."

"I know everything I need to know."

Conor frowned. "You know the little details? You know her waistline?"

"That's not necessary you know."

"Oh but it is," he said quickly. "Belinda is 5'9". Her waistline's twenty-seven. Her favourite colour's pink, she loves burritos and hates chips, because she finds them disgustingly oily. Her dad works in an automobile company. He loves chocolate chips and hates cockroaches. He's got 4 other brothers, and one of them is a fraternity brother. And I know she loves me. How? She tells me. With affection. She looks me straight in the eyes and says it." The room was silent. "The point is, I know all these little details because I am constantly listening to her. You listen when you love, don't you?" Chris stared blankly at him. "I'm not making any sense am I?"

"Well, a little. Thanks anyway man."

"You know, it doesn't mean that you can't chase her still." He thought for awhile. "How much do you think she likes your so called 'competition'?"

"Well… She's not TOTALLY head over heels with him. I guess that's good."

"Chris, give it some thought."

Chris' face brightened. "So," he said, taking some space on the beanbag chair. "Whatcha watching?"

"Simpsons."

"Cool." Conor grabbed the remote from the carpet.

~*~

Stephanie frowned. "Then?"

"Then, I'll tell you some other time again," he said.

"Hey! That's not fair! You're supposed to tell me what you did!"

"Since when was anything fair?" It was about forty-five minutes of sharing with her side of the story. He would love to leave her hanging.

"C'mon…"

"Oh, look at the time…" He stood up. "Buh-bye."

"HEY!---" Chris gave a big grin and left in a hurry.

"Oh damn him." She sipped her coffee.

***

A/N: How was I? I'm sorry, I love to ask that question. Grr, if only I had more time on the computer… Maybe I'd update more. Will James be of real competition of Chris? Will Miss Brighton stop giving excessive homework? Will Stephanie realise that it's always been Chris in her memories? Well, if you wanna find out you'll have to wait. And I MEAN prepared to wait. Smoochy POWER!!! Love, ~^*Pearl*^~

PS, remember to drop a review…


	4. On and On

Story 1 – I Remember

Author's Notes: Rose the rating to R since there'll be a lot of 'eff' words… Oh yeah, James would be called punk boy or something like that in Chris' memories. Sometimes, he leaves out a little detail here and there, is careful with the words he says, etc. so Stephanie won't really know. Someone please save me. And sorry, I delayed this for ages due to some really drastic changes to storyline.

Chapter 4-On and OnRating: R, for language.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I kinda like keeping people in suspense."

"Glad you could meet up with me."

"Chris noticed that where ever she was, she had coffee on the table. It had been about three days of sharing memories. When someone talked, the other cleared his or her mind and listened.  
"Maybe we do have something in common," Stephanie said. "We had adolescent love-life problems."

Chris smirked. "Mine turned out far worse than yours."

"Oh yeah?" she challenged.  
Stephanie had made a visit to his hotel room. She brought her coffee with her, since it was the only time when she could have a decent, quiet cup. With a friend by her side too. She took off the plastic cover off the styrofoam.

She took a sip. "So whose turn is it today? You or me?"

"Me, me," Chris said. "I'm quite enthusiastic today."  
"Right," she said, raising a brow.

"Hey, it's true, it's true." He stopped. "Dear God, did I just sound like Kirk?"

"Yes you did," she replied with a giggle.

"Oh my frickin' hell! The world is ending!" he shouted, a disgusted look plastered on his face. "And only Kirk says frickin'!"

She grinned sheepishly. "Stop it. Tell me your story."

"Okay, okay." He readjusted his sitting position as the bed bounced on impact.

~*~

_It had been a hectic three weeks since I told Conor about her, about my feelings and all. I didn't hang around her as much as I used to, spending most of my lunches with Con and the other guys instead. Pryce forgave her on the incident, and she apologized the way she blew up at her. The worst thing was that she was getting closer to James the jerk than she really should have._

Anyway, prom night was two weeks away. I didn't know whether to ask her or not. Besides, James could've asked her already. Hell, she could've been dating him.

"Hey C."

Only one person called him that awkward sounding nickname. "Yes, Pryce?"

Pryce caught up with Chris' fast walking pace. "Are you… Have you asked her?"

"Asked who what?"

"The prom!"

"Fuck the prom… She's probably going with Callow anyway." Pryce jumped a step in front of him. He halted abruptly as a result. "What?" he asked, obviously pissed for some reason.

"Don't you DARE say that. You don't even know whether he's really going with her or not. You can't give up so easily. Do it."

"Why the hell are you sticking your nose in my business anyway? The last three weeks, she's been bitching about him non-stop. I want to tell her so badly too."

"Tell her what?" she asked.

Chris had apparently forgot that he had only informed Conor. But it was too late, for Pryce had figured his little secret out in seconds. He sighed angrily at her grin and attempted to step out of her way, but she stepped in front of him again. "Hold it there. You are going to ask her. You get me?" Her finger pushed hard against his chest.

"Yeah, sure." He wanted to leave, but yet again, she didn't let him. She held out her hand. She was so ANNOYING.

"Promise?" she said.

He reluctantly took her hand once and eagerly stepped out of her way. He was too frustrated to realize the deal he just made with his crush's best friend.

Twisting the metal dial on the locker for the combination, her then yanked on the handle. He pulled out one or two books and scanned the messy locker for anything her might have forgotten about. He figured not, and slammed it shut, venting a little of his anger. Making his way to class quietly and alone, he figured too that Stephanie would be gloating about her newfound boyfriend, king of jerks. But funny, when he did step into class, she was there, being just as quiet as he was with a literature textbook that was open on her. She was taking down pointers of her own. Maybe there was still a little of the old Stephanie left.

"What are you doing here?" Chris asked. He was surprised she wasn't with Mr. Hump-a-girl.

She looked at him, bewildered. "Isn't this my desk? Unless you're not Chris Jericho and I'm in the wrong class."

"…Well, sorry I asked." He dropped his bag on the side of the floor, then his books on the tabletop.

"Chris, what are you so snappy about?" she asked. 

"I can't tell you," he replied, his eyes somewhere else. He had a constant half-worried, half-angry look on his face. He just didn't have the guts then, to ask her. He mentally kicked himself for making that promise to Pryce. Chris was just a man of his Word.

"Anything wrong?"

*Anything wrong? * He thought, *Well, besides the fact that I'm green about James, red about my feelings and yellow about the prom, I'd be at the very top of the world now. *

"Chris?"

He snapped out of his thoughts. "I'm okay. Just not much sleep last night." *…And its all your fault. *

"Oh, hey baby," James came up behind her and kissed her forehead. He inhaled the fresh scent of her hair, raising an eyebrow at Chris. He had that 'I love making you jealous' look on his face, but Chris pasted a smile on his face, returning him a 'who cares' look.

"Anyway," Callow continued, "today's Monday…" He practically sang it. "Which means…"

"Oh!" Stephanie exclaimed. "Rehearsal."

Chris didn't accompany her to her play rehearsals anymore. All that flirting going on… It pained him. He didn't want to know what James was trying to do. Almost all hope was lost in him.

"By the way," James waited for Chris' attention. He still had that 'can't be bothered by you' look. "You ARE going with me to the Prom aren't you?" Chris smirked. *Oh God, you low lying bastard, * he thought as he looked out the window to the left. *Steph, don't you DARE go with him. *

"...Okay," she reluctantly agreed.

"That's great." And then James kissed her.

Chris blinked. *Screw, * he grimly thought to himself.

How many minutes? Two? Three? Callow's pants were sure getting hot. A couple of seconds more and Chris couldn't take it anymore. He felt jealous. Like giving James a gigantic blow to the face, flinging him out of the window and THEN kissing Stephanie. He always wanted to know how her lips tasted like… *None of those thoughts now Chris… Just turn the other cheek. *

Someone was already there to do part of the deed for him.

*Hooray for Pryce. * He thought sarcastically. James was pushed away.

"Get off her, you jerk."

He pushed back hard. "Bitch," he snarled, then slowly went back to his seat. Chris couldn't help but be a little happy inside, but Steph's deep pink blush on her cheeks made him wipe a bit of his happy mood off. Time for him to pluck up his courage.

"Steph, I just wanted to ask if instead of him… You'd go with me."

There was a long moment of silence before she spoke. "I'm sorry."

His fist slammed into the wood, and then he frustratedly ran his fingers through his hair. Some of his dirty blonde locks came loose, falling over his eyes. He gave a long, hard, defeated groan. "…Nevermind." He sighed.

Pryce watched Chris, shaking her head.

*

The bell rang loudly, and the students grabbed their bags eagerly. James left straight for rehearsal. Stephanie took her time to pack her bags and by the time she was done, more than half the class was gone.

"Steph," Chris called, "We need to talk."

"What for?"

"Go to the cafeteria."

He wasn't sure if she would go. She would be easy to spot, though. She was the only girl who looked stylishly posh in school. She wore a plain colored coral blue blouse, sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her pants were black and flared, and on her feet was a pair of puma sandals. It seemed like it was her only pair of footwear she ever had. But other than the sandal thing, she was very womanly. 

He made his way to the cafeteria, taking a while to spot her among the ocean of other pupils. She was munching on a sandwich. Chicken. He just loved chicken. Steph especially liked that Chinese herbal essence thing. Maybe it wasn't that bad, but he found it tasting like stale coffee.

He settled on a chair, opposite her.

"…Yeah?" she said, looking up at him.

"I…" he wanted to continue. He felt so stupid, sitting there open mouthed, invisible and mute. "You're steady already huh?"

"I suppose," she said, chewing extremely slowly, looking at him.

"I need… Hmm." He sighed. His posture was stuck in a prayer position. "How do I say it?" He didn't look at her, but eventually his eyes slowly drew back to hers. "I, love you." It seemed like he was in a trance of some sort. The words came out, but he didn't feel very relieved at all.

"Oh."

Chris ran both his hands through his hair, grabbing all of it. He looked like he was going to rip it all out and toss it into the air like confetti. Like wind blowing hay. * SHIT! * He cursed in his head, his eyes screwed shut. Immediately, he stood. "Sorry." The three people seated at the table behind him stared. Busybodies. Chris felt like killing them when he heard their chatter and gossip by the time he turned his back, but he couldn't be bothered with them. His bag hung over his shoulder, as if it was about to drop, and strode away quickly, not looking back. "Chris?" Stephanie called.

It was bad. His mind and his heart told him not to turn, but his body automatically spun around. "Yeah?"

She stood up and took steps toward him. Her hand cupped the side of his face and her thumb stroked his cheek. For that very moment, hope filled his heart. "I can't."

He felt a pain in his gut that he couldn't take, feeling so angry and frustrated. He was hurt. "Why?" He slapped her hand away and silently walked off, from the cafeteria, to the hallway, to the stone steps, all the way to the pavement. It was like he was a little boy who scraped his knee when he fell off his bike. Only to find that it was run over by a truck. He found it hard to explain. These days were bad. The bad events just came rolling by, like waves of a tide of water. His heart was broken, because he knew in his heart that the one he loved would never be his. There was little chance that Steph would reciprocate his feelings.

He took the longer route to his house, because there was a pond, where he used to hang out with Conor. Now, it just acted as his anger management therapy.

His bag fell to the gravel as he sat on a rock by the water. Not many ducks today. He reached behind his head and redid his hair, then gazed into the still waters. He grabbed a handful of stone, picking them one by one and throwing them in. Before a ripple disappeared, he would plop one in, just to prevent the water from keeping its peace.

*All I ever wanted was some love. My arrogant parents just couldn't give me much of that…'Look at your cousin! Straight A's!' Oh, c'mon mom. If you're not happy, go have Jesse as your son. This is so screwed up! Why did I have to fall for Stephanie? *

"Mister?"

"What?" he turned around. It was a little boy, around the age of six.

"Why do you keep dropping those stones in the water?"

Chris found it quite impossible to be angry with kids. "Because, kid," Chris said, "I'm angry and sad at the same time." He ruffled the boy's hair.

The boy sat next to him, on the cold ground. "Is it girl problems? Cuz my brother's got those same problems too, except that he always goes for a drive, instead of throwing pebbles like you."

"What makes you think so?" Chris laughed slightly. Funny how this boy knew everything.

"Cuz people come here when they're sad. My dad brings me here to cycle while he sits on the rocks doing the same thing that you're doing now." He looked at the glistening pond water. "Though he'd not here now."

"Why is that?"

"He died," the boy said calmly.

Chris stopped. "…What's your name?"

"Zenith."

"That's an unusual name."

"It's supposed to mean the highest point, or the part of the sky directly above you. Dad gave me the name. He knew I'd excel in everything and stuff." He shrugged. "I guess you always lived up to your name."

Chris was amazed. This child was talking about his dead father so casually. *Maybe he's just here to take my mind off things… * "What happened?"

"Huh?" he blinked.

"Your dad."

"Oh… he committed suicide because mom was cheating on him. But he's gone somewhere else, where mom and that other man couldn't. At least that's what he told me."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Chris said sympathetically.

"Oh no, don't say that. To me, it's like saying 'too bad'. So who's that girl?"

"Her name's Stephanie…"

"The tall girl with long brown hair who lives in that big house?"

"Yeah. I like her, but she likes someone else."

"Its okay. If he's really a bad person, she'll come to you eventually. Just wait."

"Zenny!" a voice sounded over a distance.

"Oh, mom's calling me. Have to go. Bye mister."

Chris ruffled the boy's hair a last time and gave him a smile. "See ya kid."

The boy ran off as Chris wondered.

*The poor kid. Bad, she'll come to me… Maybe he's right. Maybe I could live without her for awhile. Because there are people's problems that are far worse than mine. I mean, Stephanie this, Stephanie that, I could live without her. But God, she does look beautiful... * He stopped. *Stop it, Chris. *

He picked up his bag and stood up to head home, thinking about the mysterious boy who came to him. *Conor said, love takes time. Zenith said so too. I love you so much Steph, I really do. * He shoved his hands in his pockets and left.

*

The next day, Chris came to school, quite pleasant. At least much more pleasant than the day before. He was looking just as good, dressed in a white long sleeved collared shirt with a vest over it. Green with a black stripe running horizontally in the center, red zigzag lines below that and a yellow line that alternated with straight and wavy lines. His pants were a charcoal gray, and was a fitting straight cut. Very nerdy to him, but it looked decent on him. What's more, it suited the rather cold weather outside.

He went straight to class since the lessons for the day were identical to those of the day before. He had the child in his mind and put away the pain. Today was no day to feel bad. Hopefully, the world would cooperate with him.

Stephanie hadn't noticed him sitting down. Normally, she would notice him coming through the door already. Chris ignored the fact that James was still all over her. He could ignore that Pryce existed too.

Conor appeared at his class door. "Yo, I need to tell you something. Now," he said, his voice in a harsh whisper. It was pretty useless to keep it a secret, since Chris was sitting at the opposite end of the room. Chris frowned and got out of his seat.

"What?"

"I need four hundred dollars/" Conor's voice was frantic.

"WHAT?!"

Conor placed a finger over his own lips. "Shh! I really need it."

"What did you do?"

"I…" He brought Chris aside. "…I borrowed ten thousand dollars from a guy---"

Chris yelled Conor's name hysterically.

"Shshshh…" Conor eased him down. "I just need four hundred more to pay him off. Please, you HAVE to help me."

Chris sighed heavily. "Four hundred is it?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." Conor gave him a tight hug. "But make sure you'll pay me back, 'cause that's an awful lot of money."

"Thanks dude, I owe you my life."

Chris was about to turn his back, when he thought again. "By the way… Why did you have to borrow money?"

"I needed to pay for my mom's medical fees. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I'm working as a bartender part time, you see."  
"Oh. Send my regards, then." He blinked and walked back to class. After releasing his cuffs, he rolled his sleeves to his elbows. When he turned his head, he saw an unwanted James trying to annoy Steph.

"Not now James." He was right at her ear, ready to strike out any moment. "I said not now."

Just as he slipped an arm around her waist, Chris pushed him to the back of the class. "What do you want?"

"I want you, to stay away from her," Chris told James in the face. His fists were grasping James' white shirt tightly, lifting it slightly so he could see him eye to eye. "If you can't," he growled, "then you've probably gotten yourself into some very deep shit," he licked the edges of his upper teeth, "you'd regret all your life."

"Bastard," James cursed. Chris let go of him, his feet no longer at a slight tiptoe. At least he knew he instilled a little fear into James.

When he returned to his seat, Steph's jaw was hung open. "Chris, thanks… But you didn't have to do all of that."

"I was just letting him know who he was gonna mess with if he caused anymore trouble. You know what kind of person he is."

"Chris, listen. When I said I couldn't, I meant that I would stay with who I was. You don't know him well enough, to… to judge him."

He frowned. He didn't think she'd see the good in James. No one did. Of course, James did have a little itty bit of good in him, but it never did show up publicly anyway. He just couldn't be trusted that way.

"Well I'm sorry for interfering your touching session with that asshole!" Chris' voice echoed in the half-filled classroom. People around looked in the direction of his risen voice.

*

Maybe the world was stubborn.

Chris popped some bubble gum into his mouth. He shut his locker and slung his bag over one shoulder. He ran his fingers through his hair, leaning on the closed locker. His heart felt heavy.

Empty.

It didn't make sense, but that's what it was.

"Hey honey, I heard about you. If you do need anything, call me."

"Who the hell are you?" He had no time for anyone. It was that blonde bimbo cheerleader… What was her name?

"Nicole." She shoved a piece of paper into his hand, then walked away. Chris stared in his hand. *What? * Crumpling it, he threw it over his shoulder. *I don't need any dumb blonde now. What I NEED is Steph, not some bitchy cheerleader. * With that, he left.

~*~

"I bet that girl got you into some maaajor trouble," Steph said.

"Hey, you're spoiling the whole story."  
"My boyfriend… Sorry, my ex-boyfriend apparently cheated on me with one."

Chris' heart pounded.

"Maybe you didn't see his side of the s-story."

"I didn't need an explanation." She looked around with hurt eyes.

"Did… Did you think it was a mistake for you to break up with him?" He paused. "You think you would… uh… give him," he scratched the back of his head, "another chance?"

"…I guess. I mean, Oh God, this sounds so stupid… y'know, somewhere deep down in my heart, I know I still love him. Very much. But what he did… it was unforgivable." She blew away the subject with a clap of her hands. "Well, I guess tomorrow's my turn to tell you about my week before the prom." She stood up. "I've got nothing else to do here, so… I'll be going."

Steph spun around and twisted the doorknob. Chris saw her out.

"Steph, before you go…" He leaned forward and kissed her tenderly on her lips, unable to help himself. It all startled her, but there was a familiarity with those lips. Nothing like King of the Ring or Summerslam. This was something she felt like she knew before. Like she knew him before he entered the business, before she came in too. Impossible. She pushed the thought away.

As soon as the kiss was broken after what it seemed to Chris as eternal, heavenly minutes, he apologized. "I'm sorry, about, um… that." Chris looked away and scratched his forehead. Stephanie smiled.

"It was nice," she replied, then she moved off. Chris just sighed.

A/n: Finally I've updated this. Its been since forever (actually, since august 2002) that I've touched this story. But I'm writing it all down; I'm just too lazy to type it out. Angstfest coming your way folks. Hope you can handle long stories.


	5. One Week

I Remember

R

A/N: Sorry it's so fast paced. Its how I write the story and so I think the length of the chapters are getting to me… :P. Also, I'd like to state that I've combined all the education systems I know into one, so it could be a really weird system altogether.

Chapter 5 – One weekRating for this Chapter: PG-13

"Oh crap."

Steph went straight for her purse and pulled out her little black book. She unfolded the calendar at the back of the book. "Oh crap."

She overslept and she had to work. Oh hell, she could call in sick. Besides, having a period was something important. She had to watch what she said and did, since her emotion meter could go over the scale.

The day before was… nice. Probably because of that kiss. It was Chris after all, and she finally got to know the softer side of his personality. He was no longer the annoying, arrogant man she made him out to be. She glanced at the clock.

10.47.

The phone rang, but she left it to ring, for the machine to get it.

"This is Steph. You know what to do." She grinned at her own message. _I sound like an idiot_.

"S-Steph? I was wondering if um, dinner was uh, good tonight? Call me---" **_CHRIS?!_**

She picked up immediately. "Hello?"

"Oh, you were listening?"

"Weren't I supposed to anyway?"

"So about dinner… Could you decide?"

"Don't worry about that. I know of a place called 'McDonald's'."

Chris laughed. "Fine, I'll decide. There's a place called Chapeau nearby. I'll see you at eight, how's that?"

"Don't you have to grapple someone?"

"It's my off day."

"Alright," she said. She pushed her hair behind her ear. "See ya." Just for kicks, she kissed the mouthpiece of her phone. She could just imagine his red-hot blush over the other side… "Bye," she piped, then hung up fast.

She felt the excitement of a schoolgirl again. But first, she had to clean the sheets, herself, then get breakfast.

*

He was waiting outside of the restaurant, looking around. Stephanie smiled and walked up to him. "Hey."

Chris risked one working night for her. He didn't mean to lie, because this wasn't something he could pass on. But this was all worth it.

"Let's go in." Trying to act like a gentleman, he opened the door for her, then allowed her to enter first.

"Table for two?" The waiter assumed.

"Yes please," Stephanie replied politely. The waiter led them to their seats, and they ordered. Chris ordered an extra bottle of wine for himself secretly, for some reason. He thought he needed to ease up a little. Then Stephanie started on her story.

~*~

__

I'll start on Tuesday, since nothing really happened that I could remember earlier. The weather was pretty calm, just very cold. It was halfway between a 'snowless' winter and spring, so it would be expected. James was… my very nice boyfriend. And the boy? I didn't know what to do with him anymore.

"I've been thinking of the prom, James."

"What about?"

"Those bimbos… well, namely Nicole… She's all over Chris, isn't she?"

"You know that she hates you. What better to do than steal one of your rejected boyfriends?"

"Hey, he wasn't rejected. He wasn't supposed to be my boyfriend anyway… That would be too… Besides," she said, skipping the thought, "this is Nicole Summers we're talking about, biggest highschool bitch to exist, EVER." She stopped, spotting the petite blond girl on her way.

"Hello, James dear," Nicole quirked, with about four people of her clique following. "Oh yes, Stephanie. I'd like to tell you that I'm going to try and make Chris Jericho my boyfriend. He hasn't called or paid any attention… But I'll get him, whether you like it or not." Stephanie couldn't help but chuckle at the mention of her failing attempts to claim Chris as hers. But she felt selfish to be sharing him with anyone else. Selfish because she wanted Chris for herself.

"I assume that your prom date is James," Nicole said, eyeing him.

"James Marshall Callow, the one and only," he proudly said. Nicole smiled when he gave her a wink. Stephanie, noticing his actions, automatically delivered a hard smack on his chest. "OW, you didn't have to---"

"Nicole, I don't need some blond Barbie telling me what she's going to do. I don't need your pathetic little shadows telling about my facial and body flaws, how I ended up in the last class, or how I use my money to buy my friends. You want to KNOW the truth?" Method one to shut a bitch and your talkative boyfriend up. "Let me tell you something about you. Your clothes make you seems shorter than you really are, and without those heels, you're practically a dwarf. Your makeup's too thick and you pad your bra to whatever size it is--- hey, hey, I'm not done yet, lady." Stephanie made sure that Nicole was paying attention to whatever she wanted to tell her, whatever she was letting out. "As for your intelligence, you were lucky enough to be born with a photographic memory. Emotionally, you're a six-year-old, so don't tell me what I am, or what I do. Get yourself a life Nicole Lynette Summers, and please, make it a GOOD one."

There was a stony silence that took over, probably because she rose her volume a little higher than she should have. Nicole stood there, blank and shocked, left to stare after the spot where Steph stood before. The only thing her friends could do was to comfort her.

"Whoa." James kept his pace up with an extremely pissed off but satisfied Stephanie. "Definitely shown no mercy… Wow, that was a total burn---"

Stephanie gave him a death glare, relaying the message to 'shut your trap'. "Okay, you don't have to go all 'Medusa' on me."

"She deserved every single word I said. She's been treating me like dirt ever since I came in, and if Chris ever plans to make her his girlfriend," she said, desperately sighing at the thought, "I'm going to wish him all the best."

*

"Nicole approached you, huh?"

Chris looked away to the stone steps in the front of the school. "Yeah."

"She confronted me today. Well, it's not my fault that I actually put her down."

"About me? You were fighting over me?" His eyes brightened. Could she be fighting for him? Stephanie knew his thoughts.

"Yes, about you. But before you think anything else, I want you to know that if you're going to take her, I'm fine with it. It's James and me anyway. As long as you're happy, I will be too."

He frowned. It wasn't what he expected.

She knew how he felt about her, especially after he had told her, poured out whatever he had inside of him to her, but she still pretended not to know. James was wonderful after all, not quite what Pryce had first described him to be. However, it was that rape incident that bugged her… She did believe it happened, but she believed too that everyone could change. Right now, it seemed that James was on a real path of change for a good cause.

That's why she didn't want to react to Chris' feelings. 'I love you' said genuinely was no small matter. She wanted to kill herself for replying a stupid, "I can't," but what's past was past, and there was nothing she could do to change it. But deep in that heart of hers, she was praying Chris wouldn't be going out with the super bitch nemesis.

Stephanie gave him a hug. "I need to go." *To go where…? * She thought, *I'm even lying to him now. *

Chris pulled away sadly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Chris," she called before leaving, "Don't take it like I hate you or anything like that. It's just that you and me… We don't go." *…What did I just say? *

"…That's your reason?" he spoke incredulously. "That's your damn reason? Because we don't go? Steph, what were the first few weeks of our friendship?"

"I---"

"No, no, let me finish." Stephanie pursed her lips together, feeling hot tears pricking the back of her eyes. "The first moment, you're leading me on, and next, you're off with some sex-crazed jerk who just wants to get into your pants! Haven't you ever heard that a leopard could never change its spots? And I told you how I felt. It's time for you to be honest with me now, and tell me how you're feeling."

Chris never felt this… vulnerable. The ache in his heart was getting heavier as he spoke to her, hurt. Maybe he was about to cry… Nothing made him cry, but now maybe that was about to change.

Stephanie tried to think of an honest answer. "I love you as a friend," she said calmly. "…Nothing more than that." She stalled. "Is that honest enough for you?" Her voice was now serene, but in truth she was holding back everything. If she let it all out, she'd be a tearful mess… Not really what a McMahon did.

She gave a last sigh before she finally gave up and turned her back on him. *At least feel happy for me. *

She never knew it would affect him so much. What if he tried something suicidal? She shook the thought out of her head. He'd never do such a thing.

Steph bumped into someone as she walked. "Pryce?"

"You can't put him down all the time, girl."

"But James---"

"Let's have a seat there first…" Pryce gestured towards some study tables and benches on her left. "You wanna talk about that?"

"He's really nuts…OVER ME." Stephanie couldn't help but shift her sights on Chris. Pryce moved her head to the right to see him pinching the bridge of his nose with folded arms.

"You know, he's never gonna stop trying."

"Y'think?" she asked sarcastically. Or was that in frustration? "Look, James has changed," she added quickly. "I love HIM and he feels the same. I know he's done all that to you, but… he's changed for the better okay? Stop telling me things that I don't want to hear…"

Pryce sighed. "Maybe you're right. But you still have to be careful, you know?"

"I guess so. But I don't know what to do about Chris. You have to help me." Her vision started to blur from the tears clouding her eyes, watching Chris painfully striding away.

"Hey, I'm only your best friend, not your guidance counsellor." Pryce leaned forward and stroked her best friend's hair to console her, as a tear fell from Stephanie's eye. "Just try to think things out."

"I can't do this alone—"

"But you ARE alone in this." Pryce then tried to think of something comforting. "Look, the truth does hurt. But whenever you need me, just give me a call, ok?"

"Sure," the brunette nodded.

She was stuck. She didn't want to reciprocate his feelings for her, yet she didn't want to jeopardise the friendship. Not only that, she couldn't possibly bear to see him involved with someone else, especially Nicole, in particular.

"I have to go." Pryce picked up her bag and gave a wave to her best friend. "Take care."

"I will. Bye Pryce." Then she departed from Stephanie.

Stephanie took some time to tame in whatever happened that day. James, Chris. James, Chris. After a while, she got up and left the school compound for her home.

*

She inhaled sharply and stared at the blank page of her diary. What could she write? She didn't know what to say. After sticking a couple of thoughts into it, she put away the thick book and thought to herself. She didn't feel like writing any longer. She wanted to push the world and her responsibilities away and become ignorant of her surroundings. But the world was in charge, and she couldn't change that. She couldn't change anything.

The phone rang abruptly, to which her fingers fumbled with the cord. "Hello?"

"Um, hey, Stephanie? I'm Conor, Chris' best friend?"

"Oh, he's mentioned you."

There was silence, but only for a moment. "I don't know you to well, but uh, I was wondering if you could spare me some cash."

*I don't even know you. *

"I know that, but could you?" She must've said it out loud.

"How much?"

"Couple of hundred."

"Whatever for?" she said, pulling her hair back slowly.

"Trust me, this is important."

"I'll see what I can do."

She heard his breath of relief, after which they disconnected. What drove her to do that? A couple of hundred dollars was much to her, despite her rich-girl status. After all, she meant to say 'no'.

*

__

I thought that since prom was only a week away, I had to pick out my dress. I mean, I needed to find something perfect.

"Why are you asking ME for? I know nothing about fashion! I don't even know the difference between a boot and a… I don't know!"

Stephanie grinned. "Don't lie Pryce. You're coming with me, whether you like it or not."

"No!" she protested her collar of her jacket held tight in the hands of Stephanie McMahon. "I'm not going into a dress shop!"

"You're not wearing the dress. I am."

"It doesn't matter! You'll buy your dress, then buy me one, then MAKE ME wear it. I don't like that at all."

"No excuses." 

Stephanie had to drag her all the way to the front of the shop. Pryce creeped into the shop unwillingly with her best friend.

"Hello Stephanie!" A lady in her 20s came up. Her nametag was gold, and the black ink etched in it read 'Laurel'.

"Who's this?" Pryce asked.

"This is Laurel, my personal shopper. Laurel, Pryce, the very best friend I have." Why was Laurel always so cheery? It was getting creepy. In fact, why did Stephanie even have a personal shopper?

"I'm looking for something for the prom next week… Something evening-gownish maybe?"

"Elegant, you mean." Pryce grinned at her lack of proper use of words.

Before she could say anything else, Laurel stepped aside and gave a cheery yell of, "Great!"

"I have a wonderful selection for you, just in case of these occasions."

"You did?"

"Of course I did!" She hurried to a clothing rack full of dresses.

"Did I say I was going to the last Fourth of July? If I did, I meant to say 'prom', if you know what I mean." Sarcasm was just dripping from her tone.

"So maybe these are too classy."

"I'm not looking for anything frilly or with elastics though."

"Then we can skip this rack…"

"Can I walk around?" Pryce asked.

"Sure, just don't run away," Stephanie distractedly replied.

"Don't worry… I won't." Stephanie went back to picking her dress. "Nothing with lace or really noticeable seams…" She skimmed through the passing racks. "Or any zips, because they make my back itch."

Laurel sighed. "Then I guess I can't help you."

"How about this?" Pryce said, lifting a dress in the air.

"That's reserved and customarily made. You can't take that."

Steph's eyes brightened. "That's really nice! I think I'll take it!" she said, obviously missing the whole point. "I could pay you 50% if you could let me buy it. Please?"  
"Aren't you even going to try it?" Pryce asked.

"You can't take it!"

"I'll pay twice. You do the math."

Suddenly a man with blue streaks in his hair appeared and pushed Laurel aside. "Twice the price it is."

"A lovely compromise, this is." Stephanie pulled out her American Express and handed it to the guy eagerly.

"CHAD!"

"I didn't know you had such great taste…" Pryce smiled at her remark. "I think I underestimated you."

She shrugged. "No problem."

In minutes the man returned with a carrier. "Thank you for your kind service," Stephanie sang.

*

The day didn't turn out as bad as she made it out to be. She had her perfect dress. Lavender, silk and it was beautifully designed. She had the perfect boyfriend, to whom at least she thought so at least. Why did she still feel so incomplete?

She heard the phone and instantly picked it up. Probably Pryce, thanking her for something. She always had a knack for doing that. "Hello?"

"Stephanie?"

She immediately slammed the phone down. That definitely wasn't Pryce. Was it right to have hung up like that? She stared at the phone helplessly, panicking quite a bit.

The phone rang yet again. This time, she hesitated and picked up the receiver. "Yeah?"

"Don't hang up, c'mon, don't."

"What do you want?"

"I just wanted to… Talk. We haven't been talking since… I can't even remember." His voice stalled. "Just to talk. Feelings put aside… A buddy to buddy conversation. Please."

She frowned. "…Okay." Then she could hear the grin exploding from his face, and it was contagious.

"So your dress… I heard it was beautiful."

"W-who told you?" she stammered in alarm. She felt colour creeping to her cheeks.

"I still talk to Pryce about a lot of things."

"Why haven't I noticed… She's updating you on my life, isn't she?"

Chris sighed on the other side. "You're shutting me out completely, aren't you?" He clucked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "I never meant for all that to happen. I'm sorry, I guess I went a bit crazy. Sorry."

"It's okay, really." She eased up and leaned back.

"I can't keep this from you too… I hate your boyfriend."  
"I've heard a lot of that from everyone, especially you, believe me."

"Just wanted to inform you, since you happen not to see his mean streak. I am completely serious; do you have cataract or something?"

She frowned and pondered. "Cataract?"

"Another way of asking whether you're blind. Don't you know already that I happen to put things my way?"

She giggled. "I know that… You know, I still don't get it when you asked me if I was a camel before when we were about study."

"That? Camels store water and food at one go and just live on it. When you study, everything stays in your head when the info goes in."

"Your lingo's a bit tough to understand," she said, a brow raised. "To answer your 'cataract' question, I'm not blind. He's a very nice person."

"If you call a spit in the face friendly, I'd say he'd be my best friend."

"He what?" *He couldn't have possibly… *

"He didn't tell you? Figures why he's still a snotty piece of sh—"

Stephanie interrupted. "Hey! Don't go there. It's not nice."

"Hold on," he said, ruffling sounds were heard over her side. "Sliding in a quarter."

"You're using a payphone? Aren't there people waiting?"

"Sure there are. Hell, they can wait until I'm done."

She frowned. This guy would go as far as anything to get her attention… On the other hand, she found it somewhat wrong to find his actions adorable.

"So about the prom thing," she continued, changing the subject. "Who's going with you? Don't tell me its Nicole."

"…I'm going alone. I might not even turn up." He sighed. "I don't want to go without your arm linked with mine."

Now she felt guilty for saying everything she did to hurt him. She obviously couldn't say she'd be going with him. She just couldn't. James was her boyfriend and she had to stand by him. Even if it meant she had a little liking left for Chris.

"I'm sorry."

"No problem," Chris replied light-heartedly.

"Look…" she felt too confused to go on any longer with the conversation. "I have to go."

"Wait, wait! Before you go, I just want to tell you that if anything were to happen, I'll always be there. Remember that."

"I will. Thanks." With that, she put down the phone and ran her fingers through her hair.

*Nothing will go wrong. Nothing will go wrong. I hope nothing will go wrong. *

***

A/n: I told you It was long. Excruciatingly wrong, probably.


	6. Prom Night

I Remember

A/N: I have to explain that Steph still cannot remember because she's got horrible memory, among other reasons. The song in this doesn't belong to me too. A bit corny, this chapter.

Chapter 6 – Prom NightRating for this Chapter: R

She stared at herself in the mirror. The dress was absolutely gorgeous and her make-up, hair, everything seemed to make her look beautiful. But she just felt empty. The last week, since he made the phone call, she'd been feeling terrible. Perhaps the prom would make it all better.

"Your date's here!" Shane yelled from downstairs.

"Coming!" she responded somewhat excitedly, straightening her dress and fixing whatever she thought was a mess, then grabbed her purse and headed down.

"Steph," Shane pulled her back before she saw James, "Your boyfriend's an asshole."

She pushed his shoulder hard. "Thanks for saying that too!" Shane smiled.

"And also, take care. I don't trust him, really… watch where you're going."

~*~

Stephanie sighed. "You know, come to think of it, I've kind of noticed that we've had a lot of common situation's experience."  
"I take it as coincidental."

"…I suppose." She placed her cloth on the table and rose. "I'm sorry you had to pay."

"That's because I wanted to." With that, they headed back to her home.

*

"You never told me how it went," Chris said.

"I prefer not to talk about it. It was downright dreadful."

"I can imagine. My prom wasn't quite a spectacular time of my life either." How could this be? He was telling her all her own memories again and yet, it didn't even ring a bell. Maybe he just had to ring it a little louder.

~*~

__

She was wonderful during prom. I mean, if you looked at her, you'd be falling at her feet. I thought so anyway. So I went to my prom alone, maybe out of boredom, or just to see her face… Anyway, this was one night that probably changed her and my adolescence drastically…

He looked around, drink in hand. The last year, he was bad enough to spike the punch and make everyone high. But this year, it was different. No more pranks and jokes like the past few years. This year, he was changed, and he was looking for the girl responsible for doing so.

*Oh no, * he thought as Nicole approached him.

"I'm glad you don't have a date. I don't have one too."

*Figures, * he thought.

"Maybe you wanna hang out… Somewhere else?"

Chris looked at her. Maybe she could take his mind off her… Nah.

"Chris, my man!" Pryce shouted loudly. He grimaced at her voice. Pryce, oh Pryce. Always to the rescue. "Oh my God. Please don't tell me this skank is your date."

"As a matter of fact---" she grabbed his arm, but he pulled away.

"---She isn't," he said.

"Well then, I suggest that you make a move before your face meets my fist."

Nicole gave a hard glare and haughtily strutted off.

"Nice going," he said solemnly.

"What is up with you, Chris?" He didn't answer. "Oh. You're waiting for her, aren't you?"

"I shouldn't even be here. I'll just ruin her day and hurt her."

"No, you won't!" she quickly said. "I bet she'll be glad to see you here." He fell silent. *I hope so. *

__

The minutes seemed to drag on to hours without her. I was about to leave and then… she was there.

Pryce tugged on his sleeve and nodded towards one direction. Chris looked up and spit in his drink in a spray of red. *Is THAT Steph? *

"…You've got nice taste in fashion, Pryce."

"Whatever, just go to her!"

"No!" he said, trying to stay back while she pushed him. "I can't!"

He spun around to face her. "I don't want to! I don't want to ruin this night for her." She refused to stop. "Please, just… Stop it. Stop it." He stared at Pryce with cold eyes, crushing the plastic cup in his hand and throwing it aside.

He escaped deeper into the sea of teens dancing and chattering about, but no matter how loud it was, he couldn't focus on the surroundings. He couldn't cope with it any longer.

"Chris?"

He was walking somewhere, but he didn't notice to where, and now he knew he made his way to Stephanie.

"Stephanie," he whispered softly. Suddenly everything he told Pryce dissolved into nothing. He felt relieved to see her, and he was so happy. That instant, he picked her up from the ground in a hug and spun one round before setting down again. She looked so gorgeous in her lavender dress. It stuck to her body nicely, and her low neckline allowed her to seem fuller in that sense. Her hair fell in delicate curls, her face just glowing. But her eyes…

They were so empty.

That is, until he came into the picture, they were filled with joy and hope, and were bright again. Just like when she was always with him.

"You came!" she squealed in delight.

"I know!" he replied, just as excited.

"I thought you said you wouldn't!"

"I only said maybe…"

She inspected his appearance in his tux. "Looking like the dorky version of James Bond, as always."

"Yeah, and you, constantly the geek," he retorted playfully.

"Ugh, whatever." She looked around. "Pryce?"

For the moment, he had forgotten about her. "Damn. I have to go find her."

"Go ahead." She observed the place some more. "I have to meet James."

That dreaded name. Chris pretended not to hear, speeding off. Just to balance out the good feelings he felt, James bumped straight into him.

"Oh hey Chris…"

"You'd better make it her night," he retorted.

"With me, it'll always be her night…. Maybe we'll drive down to Ficar Street and pop into my place for awhile… Her night."

"It had better be."

Chris gave James a hard, stern glare, then set off to find her best friend. When he finally got to her, Pryce made it a point to ignore him.

"Listen, I talked to her. I hugged her and everything."  
She turned slowly. "What did she say?"

"The normal old things. I'm serious!" he said when she cocked her head back in disbelief.

"What else?"

"Nothing. Anyway, I think she wants to talk to you."

"Me?" she asked. "Where is she?"

"Around the back. I'll go see Conor for awhile."

*

"Con, wassup man?"

"Belinda's going somewhere. I think she's gonna dump me."

"Dump you? But why? Wh--- I mean, whatever for?"

"She's going overseas to study in some English college… Meet some English guy… Break my heart and marry him…"  
"That's all bull. You love her, don't you?" He nodded. "So, as long as it stays that way, you'll never lose her."

"What makes you think it's THAT simple? You can't even get Stephanie." Chris frowned at his cold, hard words. "I'm sorry. I just think all this is just so screwed up. I'm worried, Chris."

Suddenly, his face lit up. "I think I know who you could meet… Just to be there. She's a real great friend," Chris said.

"And who might that be?"

"I'll bring her to you later." Chris took a look at the variety of foodstuffs on the plate and platters.

"Please, don't drug any of it," Conor said, smiling at his gawking.

"Shutup, loser," Chris retorted with a slap to his best friend's arm. "I'm out of that. But you know, I could disturb the bee hive outside about three yards away from here…"  
"You evil bastard." Chris ran away.

*

__

Time passed, but much quicker now. She seemed to stay on my mind for the whole night. They were going to give out those dumb titles and all… It was just so lame.

"Come on! You might win something," Conor yelled through the sea of students.

"I just might win the evilest boy of all time," he replied. At the corner of his eye, he spotted vague figures moving out of the hall. They looked so familiar…

"Chris!"  
"What?" he spun, spotting Pryce.

"Where's Stephanie?"

"I don't know. I thought she was with you?"

Chris shook his head. "Nevermind."

"Okay everyone," a high-pitched girlish voice rang throughout the Benson hall. "We are going to start giving out some custom awards!"

Her fellow emcee took the microphone from her hands. "Thank you Brit. Now, we're going to invite our coolest, most funkiest janitor, Alan, to give out the prizes."

A guy in the most striking coloured clothes came up on stage with the sounds of cheering and whooping. "Trippy," Chris told Conor, after staring at his outfit for some time.

__

So the prizes came and went and suddenly, they started to get more unbelievable.

"Next up…" Donna said, switching the cards in her palm. "Rebel of the Year…" she said in a deep playful tone. "This is one guy who didn't turn up for detention a full fifty three times, and defied everyone…. James Marshall Callow."

There were whispers all over, eyes darting all over the place for the winner.

He wasn't there.

Chris started to worry at that. He looked around alarmingly.

"And then now, what a lot of people have seen and voted for… The best couple award!" Britney squealed.

"Now this award goes to a couple, any two people that appear to have been together at some point and that seemed compatible. This was open to the public for voting, and her are the results." Donna slipped the envelope out and her face lit up. "Unusual it may be, but here are the winner…"

"Conor, I need to go find Stephanie," Chris said, suddenly running past everyone.

"Chris Jericho and Stephanie McMahon."

The hall was filled with natter. Conor had no choice but to just wait, since his friend just disappeared like that.

__

I heard my name, but never turned back. All that matter to me now was her. The pieces flew to me immediately when James wasn't there along, with Stephanie 'coincidentally', and the parts he told me… It was going to be her nightmare.

Jericho ran. He ran as fast as he could, throwing the jacket of his tuxedo to one side somewhere to lighten the weight he carried. What did James say again?

Ficar Street. James lived on Longway Drive. So if they just left around twenty minutes ago… They should be at his place at the moment.

Oh no. OH NO.

Chris swore and took off again. James drove a black Peugeot, right? He should've spent time to listen to her, instead of wallowing in self-pity. But he had to take a chance and rely on instincts this time.

He jumped across obstacles without problem; his mind was focusing on protecting her. *Shit! * He angrily thought. Why couldn't he have longer legs or something?

When he did arrive at Longway, he needed to look for the Peugeot now. It was the only way.

The car was parked directly in front of a house, the lights all on. This was it. Chris ran and opened the unlocked door, going straight for the stairs. He saw bottles before he proceeded up. On the tables, wine glasses all over. The contents in the bottle, gone.

*Bastard! He even got her to drink. * He bolted up the stairs to the second story. When he heard cries, he went to the door and twisted the knob. Locked. LOCKED.

"Open the door to fucking piece of shit! YOU FUCK!"

"Chris!" he heard from within. He charged towards the door with full force, his body the battering ram.

"Steph, get over here!" The door was suddenly open, probably because she turned the brass knob in time.

Chris was turning into a madman. He went straight for James and grabbed him by the collar, slamming him up the wall opposite where Stephanie helplessly slumped down in a crying heap. Chris threw a punch into his nose. "You fucker," he said, throwing another one to his jaw. "Son of a bitch, you were supposed to be taking care of her."

James managed to block his shot and get one of his own, then nursed his busted nose. Blood coated the tip of his fingers. "Who the hell told you to come here?"

"God did, you prick, so that she wouldn't have to deal with your intended shit," he said, getting straight up from where he had landed. He glanced towards where Steph sat, but she was gone. Chris was busy with his own matters for the while anyway.

The next moment came unexpectedly, when from out of nowhere, the bandanna boy had a Swiss army knife in hand and attacked him. "Did you think I came unprepared? Think I was stupid?" James was practically spitting his words out at Chris, his eyes frighteningly wide and rather insane. He was lowering the blade ever so slowly, nearing his throat and mere inches away. Chris freaked out. Panicked. His mind went blank immediately.

"Oh my God," Stephanie's small, scared voice sounded.

James, being a person to be distracted easily, looked up. This let Chris have a crucial moment to kick him backward, making him fall back onto the wall. "If you like pushing people to walls so much, then stick to them yourself," Chris said, taking the knife from the loose grip of James' hands. With a slight hesitation, Chris plunged the blade deep into his palm, then area between the webbing of his hand and down the knuckles of his second and third finger, pinning him to the wall. He left a tearful James there at that very moment, taking Stephanie in his arms, planting kisses all over her wet face, kissing the tears away. "It's alright Steph, it's okay," he consoled, "he can't hurt you anymore."

Very soon, the sound of sirens filled the air as the flash of red and blue shone into the room. With a trembling hand, she cupped the side of his face, leaning in for a tender kiss.

"I would never dream of what I'd do without you, Chris. Thank you so much," she said, resting her head on his shoulder. He never felt better. In fact, he felt like he was at the top of the world. She sobbed harder, keeping close.

"What about the prom?" he said, tilting her chin up. It was inappropriate, but it was supposed to be a good night for her. "We can deal with the authorities later… I'll tell them. I just want one dance from you, that's all."

"…You know what?" she said, getting up, clearing her eyes. "Let's get going."

Chris got up. "You're the strongest person I've ever met."

"You haven't experienced the maximum of my phenomenal strength yet," she joked. He couldn't believe she had that kind of energy and attitude after an ordeal like that. "We just rhymed," he said. Then there was this pause.

"Lame!" she retorted, pinching him in the process. "Thanks Chris."

"Get a move on, we don't have all night." With a tug of his hand, they set off back to the hall again.

*

The music was blaring through the speakers when they entered. Conor gave a wave and jumped, making sure Chris saw him "Follow me," Chris said to Stephanie.

"You must be the lovely Stephanie," Conor said, taking her hand.

"Stop it man, she's mine." Chris then told Stephanie to wait as he made his way to the DJ. "Hey, " he glanced at his nametag, "Mike. Could you play something for me, I wanna do something stupid." He started unfolding his impromptu plan to him, then thanked him before returning to the awaiting Miss McMahon.

"I just talked to him…"

"For us?"

"It's coming up in a few."

"Well, it's our song then?"

"It's really up to you."

Pryce appeared out of nowhere. "Hey guys… Stephanie, are you okay? You look a little banged up."

She was right. In fact, 'a little' was an understatement. Her hair let down, her dress had a tear somewhere and so many other things she had to discover. Chris looked just as messed up, with some of his hair out of his usual ponytail, some of his buttons missing from top of his shirt that was half tucked in, and missing jacket. But no matter how terrible he looked, he felt like… Well, he felt like he was the king of the world. In fact, it was levels higher than that.

The music started and he let her recognise the beat filling the air. "Listen to what it says… Everything I ever want to say to you may sum it up in there. Steph you left a mark in my life, and that mark will last forever."

They began to move side by side following the rhythm, her for arms resting on his shoulders as eye contact was made. It was their song after all, so they had to soak whatever it had before it was over.

"You know, I never thought anything would bring us together. I'm just so thankful I met you, and I don't know why," Stephanie said, smiling up at him.

"I don't quite know where to start."

"Well, at the beginning, of course. Unless you want to start on two weeks ago."

~ _The first, the last, my everything_

And the answer to all my dreams  
You're the sun, the moon, my guiding star  
My kind of wonderful, that's what you are ~

"Never listened much to Barry White really," she said. "I suppose that'll change, huh? Better than whatever you listen to anyway."

"Hey, that's not nice." Their steps caused them to have rotated one big circle, then Chris took her hand and she twirled on her own, returning him.

"Ever think of what will ever happen to us before?" he asked.

"Of course, but we'll see hmm?"

"You do not know how much that means to me. And I'm telling you that the Beatles and… They rock, okay?" Stephanie laughed. They repeated the twirl.

~ _I know, there's only, only one like you  
There's no way, they could have made two_

You're all I'm living for, your love I'll keep forever more  
you're the first, the last, my everything ~

Chris stopped then told Stephanie to wait once again, proceeding to the DJ. "Thanks, Mikey," he said, in which he received thumbs up.

"And with you, I've found so many things," he sang into the microphone. Stephanie burst out in full laughter, slapping her palm over her forehead. He couldn't believe himself either. "A love so new, only you could bring," he continued as he made his way up the stairs to the stage. "Can't you see its you, you make me feel this way--- come up here." She obliged, getting up in her heels as fast as she could. "You're like the first morning dew, on a brand new day," he half laughed.

"Chris!" she screamed incredulously.

"I see, so many ways that I…" she couldn't help but laugh along now. "Can't love you, 'til the day I die…"

"You're NUTS!" she shouted.

"You're my reality---"

"---Mad!"

"---Yet I'm lost in a dream---"

"BANANAS!"

"You're the first, the last, my everything," he finished. Yet he took her hand, no matter what she said, because he knew she loved it on the inside.

"You sounded so awful," she said, as soon as he tossed the mic aside.

"At least I got the party going."

"Speaking of party, look at hose two there."

Stephanie was referring to Conor and Pryce, two of them oblivious to their surroundings. "Let them be. I think the both of them need it."

"They look really cute."

"…I know," she replied, keeping quiet suddenly.

"But you know, we beat the ranks."

"How'd you know?"

"They gave out some kooky prize… How does 'best couple' sound to you? Anyway, the song's not really over. I've got one finale for you."

"What finale?" she asked. "Chris… Tell me!"

"You'll see! You may like it. I don't know."

He could feel his heart beating faster right there. Adrenaline was pumping through his whole circulatory system, and he was getting sweaty. She was right… What finale? "Steph," he said, "I love you."

She 'mmm'ed and waited for a little more. The whole world was watching, but it didn't matter anymore. Not to him, not to her. "One more thing," he said. *Finale… *

He gave her a lasting kiss, something to remember. As the song faded to nothing, they were there, just as they were engaged in their long tender kiss. Finally when he came to his senses, the sound of practically the whole school cheering was evident. This was one prom night… To remember.

~*~

"Then we settled our problems with the police… But yeah, the night was spectacular." *I cannot believe you couldn't remember that! *

Stephanie blinked. "That sounds so familiar. Was the song Barry White?"  
"Uh… I don't think so… It was embarrassing."

"I remembered that he did something like that… It was nice."

"It was? I mean, yeah, it was nice of him."

They were sitting on the front porch of her home, telling their memories. They reached there ages ago, and it had been about a nice half an hour of Chris' story.

"Well then," she said, getting up. "I guess it's really late. I'll see you tomorrow?"

Just like the other day, there was a long pause that was there before Chris departed. He casually leaned against the doorframe and smiled. "Sure." But before what was coming could get to her, she pecked him on the cheek and shut the door. Chris sighed. That wasn't supposed to happen. That was NOT supposed to happen. She was supposed to… to…  
Stephanie plopped herself on her couch in a hard breath. She frowned. He was keeping something.

****

Why did it all seem so familiar?


	7. Who?

I Remember

R --- finally, I settled on a rating.

A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm too busy with my work. :(. Hope you guys don't mind. I want to thank those who've reviewed, even read the story too. I'd have my own butt-ache after reading such long chapters. I apologise for all the errors and boring segments as well… Thanks. Finally, after soooo long… :).

Chapter 7: Who?

"Stephanie?"

"I told you not to bother me."

"You did?"

"Yes, I---" Steph stopped and looked up. "I thought you were my assistant."

"That's not very flattering," Chris said.

"Sit down," she said, gesturing to the seat. She couldn't help but sound so serious. Maybe it was just the office atmosphere.

She hadn't spoken to Chris for two days now, because of business and she needed sometime to think. Something happened to her like that too. Something like that was from deep in her brain.

"I was wondering… Nicolette, was it?"

"Nicole Lynette Summers…" she rolled her eyes. _That bitch! _She kept repeating that in her head mentally. "What about her?"

"I mean, she couldn't have possibly been THAT inhuman."

Chris didn't know he was going to lie. Maybe he was afraid she'd hate him for the idiotic jock he was. The stupidest, no-brainer neanderthal. He though it was that.

Stephanie glared. "You don't know how much of a pain she really was. Makes me sick, really."

Chris laughed nervously. "Oh, alright."

"Let me tell you how it started with her…"

~*~

__

About a week after the prom, he became somewhat of my love interest, the TOP priority in my life. But of course, the course of true love never did run smooth, did it? Well, she was just the pain in my ass that wouldn't stop chomping.

Stephanie stared at the clock at the top of the wall. It seemed like a typical long day in school and she couldn't wait for it to end. The clock showed it was past school dismissal time already. Maybe the bell was faulty.

"Hello, Mrs Cretel?" she said, raising her hand.

"What is it?"

"It's way past time already."

"But the bell hasn't---" As if on cue, it did ring, and Stephanie muttered, "Nevermind."

FINALLY. She threw everything into her bag and escaped class as fast as she could to her locker, to unload everything in her haversack.

"What was that all about?" Chris said, coming up to her. "I've never seen you so unenthusiastic about classes in my entire life." His arms then slid around her waist.

"Because it was boring, I couldn't wait," she replied. "I'm tired, Chris."

"Of me?"

"You're just saying that on purpose," she frowned. "No, I'm just tired of studying so hard. And tired of her," she said, spotting the blondie she told off the other day. Stephanie wasn't surprised that she didn't have her other friends by her side. Maybe they finally came to their senses.

"Stephanie," Nicole greeted solemnly. "I'll be sheerleading, Chris. Will you come and watch?"

"I've got better things to do."

"You can go if you want," Steph said, "I trust you."

"I don't want to. Watching airheads jump around all day is not my kind of thing. Now, watching you jump around might be a different story…"

Nicole was watching them and Stephanie caught the expression on her face. "You're so stubborn, you know that?" she told Chris, wrinkling her nose at him.

"I don't care. I am going to pop by your place today."

"You can't. I have to go stand in court as the prosecutor. Besides, I just might get some guard dogs. Dogs seem to hate you."

"That was a long time ago," he insisted. Then, he hesitated. "Oh, I have to be there too, then."

"Which is why you can't go to my house."

"Excuse me," Nicole said, "I do believe that I exist."

"…Maybe in your cheerleading squad," Stephanie added. "I don't think you need me to give you another tongue lashing."

The blonde girl rolled her eyes, huffed, then walked away. As soon as she was out of sight, Chris leaned into his girlfriend.

"I could use a little tongue lashing myself, you know," he told her softly, grinning from ear to ear.

"Ugh, you pig," she replied, smacking him in the chest.

"Ow! You forced the wind out of me with that one," Chris said, using a hand to nurse the sore area. Stephanie giggled then pressed her lips against his for a moment, then shut the locker door.

"That's all you're getting from me," she said, zipping up her bag.

"Aww man, I was getting worked up for nothing," he said.

"Worked up? Eew, not now," Stephanie said. She faced him. "Look, I need to thank you for being there when I needed you most."

"Steph, I love you so much. It's impossible not to be there." He planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Stephanie smiled. "I think I need to go settle a legal dispute now." She shrugged. "Time to play a McMahon."

"Go on then."

Chris leaned againt the lockers and smiled to himself. "Wait a minute…" At a distance, Stephanie could hear him. "I'm supposed to be there too!" She rolled her etes and continued walking, refusing to stop and wait for him.

***

"Alright, this court is adjourned." Once the 'hammer of justice' -as Chris called it- slammed, everyone rose and most of the people left. Chris had to stay away from Stephanie for the moment, since she was reduced to tears when she had spoken and because the family was there for her. Shane, Vince and Linda. They cared about business, but they cared for their daughter as well. Besides, she needed time with her family to receive the comfort she needed.

"Mom, dad, you've got business, so I guess you have to go," she managed.

"Honey, we know you need us. We'll be here for you always," Linda said. To see Stephanie so hurt was absolute torture for Mrs McMahon, and Chris had so far seen her to be the strongest woman of all her time.

"I've got Shane," she said. She let out a smile when he tried a terrible face, and then moved close to him to receive an assuring arm around her.

"I can take care of her," he stepped up, "And you two can just head on to work." His parents had figured out that Steph really preferred to be alone, and they nodded. So, after awhile, they bode farewell, exchanged hugs, and left.

Shane brought his sister straight home with the car. "So, do you feel any better?"

"Well, I suppose. I spoke the truth, so I should win," Steph replied through her faint sobs. "I'll definitely get something… He used a weapon anyway."

"How is Chris?"

"He's alright, although, I think he might've wanted to see me."

"Hey, I don't think you're that great to him."

"Shut up!" They laughed.

After that, no one dared to speak, especially Shane. He glanced at her via the rear-view, and saw her staring out the window blankly, watching everything pass her by. She wasn't hateful to anyone, it was just that she didn't know what was the appropriate emotion to settle for. There were mixed feelings, but altogether, they made her heart race. Her fingers drummed on her lap, her appearance a calm façade, but she was so flustered inside. About what exactly, she couldn't say. Maybe it was her life, Nicole, James, Shane, Pryce, Connor, the case…

Chris.

She didn't really know what to feel about him. She felt so safe in his arms, like they were protecting her from the world's unclean and harm. She felt secure around him, more than anyone else. But on the other hand, she felt a little awkward about him being her steady. Somehow, she felt it was going too fast.

Amazingly, he managed to help her recover from a traumatic experience so well, so quickly, even if it was only temporary. Maybe that was what made her want to be with him so badly. Or maybe it was something else. 'Confusing' was all she could classify everything under.

"Stephy?" Shane called another time, breaking her train of thought.

"I'm sorry," she apologised, looking down at her nails, then away, to keep her mind off things.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he questioned with a tone of concern. But he knew she wasn't okay. No one was when he or she'd been violated like that.

"…I'm positive that I feel better than before… Before was cheap, and like shit," she replied, smiling a bit at her sudden use of vulgarity. That was some anger settled. She hadn't done so in an awful long time, swearing. It was so pathetic that she did now, possibly to make herself more pitiful. People did that in hope that someone would prove them wrong about themselves and their flaws. Only the people who really cared would want to have a shot at that improving. Shane, of course, was definitely one of those that cared.

"I'm glad you don't feel that way anymore. And to tell you the truth, you're priceless and beautiful. Not cheap and like shit," he said, commenting on her self-opinion.

"Thanks, Shane," she said, smiling at her brother's kind words. "I'd like to hug you now, but that would just result in a fatal chokehold."

"Better not. I think I'm too young to die." Steph giggled. What a brother.

"When do you think it'll be over?" she said, after awhile. He remained silent. "The case," she referred. "When do you think?"

"By next month, it'll be done," he replied. "Don't worry."

But what was there not to worry about?

***

Stephanie decided to give Pryce a phone call. She needed to just talk to her best friend.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Pryce," Stephanie said, brightening at the sound of her voice.

"How was it?" she asked, voice filled with curiosity.

"It sucked a little, but turned out quite okay. James wasn't there for identification yet."

"So the real thing hasn't started?"

Stephanie sighed. "Not really." She looked around her own room. The curtains were drawn, leaving the room dark and sad-looking. She had taken off the posters on the wall and de-cluttered the place. She didn't need some of those useless things anyway. She disliked talking about the particular case problem all the time, so she decided to change the subject. "So, what's up with you and Connor anyway?" she asked.

"Nothing," Pryce quickly clarified.

"I am not believing that there's nothing, Pryce, you know that I know very well."

Pryce was silent for a long minute. "So I may have a thing for him. It doesn't beat how Chris had happened to throw every hint in your way, still."

"Don't change the topic! Chris and I saw you two getting the groove on during prom," Stephanie teased, trying to weed it all out from her best friend. "By the way, Connor asked me for cash earlier before."

"He did? Oh, that was to pay for some stuff. His mom's in the hospital. He's working part time as a bartender too," Pryce said.

"Did you know he's got a girlfriend already?"

"They broke up."

"They did? Chris never told me."

"That's because he never told Chris."

"Well, he asked for quite a sum. But I guess I could help him.. He's Chris' best friend after all. Oh yeah, I was wondering if you knew how to balance some chemical equations. Flew out of my head completely," Steph grabbed a pen and a piece of paper while trying not to stretch the phone cord too much, and scribbled what info Pryce had to offer.

"Oh, guess who's turning sixteen in 2 months and seven days?" Pryce excitedly said.

"You?" There was air of 'duh' that passed. "Yeah, okay, don't worry. I'll remember your birthday," she laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow then… Thanks Pryce, for everything. You've been really great."

"You too. Bye Stephy, take care."

"Bye."

*So full, yet so empty in myself,* she thought to herself, *I've got such wonderful, supportive people around me. Why do I feel this way?* She sighed and started to doodle on her fresh notes. *I can't believe I'm so much trouble.* She drew a character similar to Pac-Man, just with sharp teeth and a speech bubble that said 'Bite me world' beside it. Then she drew hearts and flowers… She wanted to draw Chris, but she didn't have that artistic ability, so instead, she drew a pig, one with wings and a halo with thick dots as eyes, a big snout and a head that was hardly any larger than its snout. Then she wrote, "Chris, my angel, that fine swine!" She sighed with a smile, then set her paper and pen on top of her drawers beside her bed. Homework could wait.

But as she tucked herself to bed, all she could think of was the past and her problems.

*My heart cannot wait,* she thought, closing her eyes, desperately trying to drift away into oblivion.

***

Stephanie sat on the tables and benches outside the school compound and waited, her head lowered down. She was just waiting for anyone to come by and talk to her. Chris sat in front of her quietly, but she only noticed when he placed his books on the table with a soft thud.

"You sure you're okay?" he said, leaning forward a bit.

"Would everyone just stop asking me that?" she displayed her displeasure, then calmed. "Coping." She tried to smile, but she failed miserably.

"If you need me, I'm always there," Chris said.

It pounded into her head. "There?" she asked. "Where's there?"

Unable to answer even after some thought, he said, "How's Pryce?"

Stephanie knew she was going to be a total bitch today, even if she didn't mean to. She wasn't surprised he changed the subject. After all, she knew pushing him would make him uneasy.

"Pryce? Hung up over Connor, what else?" That definitely did not sound friendly, but Chris understood.

"Connor?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Oh, right. He hasn't told you that he broke up with his girlfriend. Or rather, Belinda dumped the poor guy. It just happened that Pryce was there for him."

Chris paused. "I kinda got lost at the part where he did not tell me that."

"S'ok. Pryce told me. By the way, I managed to pass him the cash he wanted the other time."

"Money?"

"I told you before," she replied.

"Must've slipped my mind."

Chris brought his focus back on her. "Are you really alright?" he asked again, almost grimacing at what her response could be. He didn't want to be thrown across the compound, that's for sure. Instead, she kept quiet and sighed.

"To tell you the truth, I'm still not very stable. I'm shaken up, and I'm ready to burst into tears at any given moment," she replied calmly. "It doesn't take just a few days to recover, I think you understand." Chris nodded in response. "…But you managed to take my mind off it even immediately after the whole ordeal. Even if it was only for a little while, you managed to anyway, which would have been almost an impossible feat. You know what that means?" He urged her to continue. "That I've got you, and well, I'm sorry if I sound needy, but I want you to be there almost all of the time. I don't know why… But you give me the security and assurance I need."

"Give me your hand," Chris said. He smiled as she let him hold her hand, "Steph," he said as he lifted her fingers and kissed them sweetly, "I love you."

If she didn't physically melt on the spot, her insides were definitely as runny as chocolate sauce on a hot pan. But instead of reciprocating, she felt that it was best to not have a response. She had to sort out her feelings, in order to let herself admit that she loved him too.

He kissed her and allowed his eyes to close, inhaling her faint scent, just to cherish the moment. Once he let her hand go reluctantly, he looked at her longingly. "I can't imagine what I'd be without you in my life," Chris told her. It was warm, sincere, genuine, and… "You affectionate, mushy sap." She couldn't help love him too. However, she couldn't bring herself to return the sentiment in her own words. *I love you too, Chris. But I don't know how I really feel about everything yet. I'm sorry… It's just a little too quick.*

She smiled back at him. "Do you think it's all fated? …Everything that's happened recently. Do you think… It was supposed to turn out this way?"

"…I suppose so. We're together. I think it's fated that we would be together, forever."

It made her so happy to have Chris. He was committed and everything else. Why didn't she see all of this in him earlier?

"Forever is an understatement," she heard herself say. "So is the word 'eternal'."

"I'm really glad to hear that."

"…Hungry?" Stephanie asked.

"Like Hippos," Chris replied matter-of-factly. She wrinkled her nose and he laughed. "Hippos?"

"Hungry Hippos! The game… You look so cute when you make your face like that." She stuck out her tongue at that, then stood up. "Where shall we go?" Chris asked, following suit.

"Somewhere nice. Somewhere that would let me tell you things I can't in public I suppose."

"Your house?"

"My house," she said confidently.

"Sounds exciting," he said, with a grin on his face. "Very exciting."

Stephanie gave him a huge slap to the chest like she always did. Once they reached her place, he plopped himself on the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table.

"Shane's gone out. So behave and obey the rules here, because I'm in charge now." She climbed the stairs quickly.

He rose his voice enough for her to hear, "Ooh, a Stephanie McMahon being dominant over me. I think I like that sound of that!" When she came down, she sounded serious but on her face was a smile.

"You obey the rules or you'll never stop in here again."

"Yes ma'am. I mean, m'lady."

"I'm gonna try to cook up a storm in the kitchen. You're the first to actually taste it, okay?" she said, heading into the kitchen.

"Yessiree bob. But I hope I don't have to hide from the tempest in the kitchen. Will you poison me for annoying you so much?"

There came a light-hearted laugh in the kitchen. "I hope I won't have to."

"Okay, okay, I'll shut up now," he immediately stated. "Just don't kill me okay?"

"I'll try my best."

Chris smiled, to which it faded after a bit. "Is that trying to kill me or not?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, and continued her preparation.

***

"It's ready!"

Chris woke up that instant when the sound of her voice exploded into his ears. "You didn't have to shout, I can't risk being deaf, not at this age."

"You want lunch or not?" Steph said, a little impatient for an opinion.

"Yes, yes… Don't get your undergarments in ribbons."

She rose a brow. "You love to twist things, don't you? Camels and ribbons."

"I can't help it… Smells good, and the counters are clean. Did oversleep enough for you to have enough time to be rid the evidence?"

"Very funny, Chin Chong. Eat up," she said, serving up a plate as he sat down.

"Chin Chong?"

"Eat!" Steph half-demanded. "Please, I bed of you. Tell me how it is!" she submitted.

"Beg. Now that's---"

"EAT!"

She seemed like she was going to stab him with his fork. He had wanted to comment some more, but he feared his life more than anything.

The dish was just a black pepper chicken steak, but it smelled absolutely wonderful. Stephanie eagerly anticipated as she closed her eyes and waited.

"Oh man," he exclaimed.

"What?" she asked, alarmed. "Is it good? Do you like it?"

"I'm disappointed, because I'm high on this now."

Steph clapped her hands gleefully and gave him a tight hug and a peck on the cheek. "I finally know the standards of my cooking, thanks to you! Shane just refuses to comment." She washed her hands.

"What was it you wanted to tell me?" Chris said.

She ate a little slower and swallowed. "Can we talk later?"

"Sure." Then they continued their meals.

***

Stephanie stared at the print on her textbook blankly. Last night was so awkward. She wanted so bad to tell him how she felt, but the words wouldn't come out. She wanted so much to tell, but she didn't know what the after effects were going to be. Chris would love it, but what if it would never work? What was the use of going deeper when you knew that it would never last forever? She didn't know how that managed to get into her head, but she felt that it meant something. Somehow, she didn't want anything like that to happen.

When she cleared her thoughts, she immediately noticed the teacher looking down at her. "See me after class, Miss McMahon," she said in a soft tone. "I might have to sort out some things for you."

*Great,* she thought *Just Great.*

By the time class was over, Steph felt dead. She had been thinking the whole time throughout the lesson. She made her way to the teacher's desk as soon as everyone left, including Chris. She told him to wait around her locker area.

"Stephanie, your attention span has deteriorated in class. Now, I know that you've been through a lot lately, but it's only for your own good that you concentrate during lesson," the teacher said.

"…Try being in my shoes for once," Steph snapped, then walked away.

As she headed down the hallway, she spotted Nicole hanging around Chris again, which was just starting to piss her off.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Stephanie asked grumpily. "For once, stop trying."

"Trying what? To steal your boyfriend?" Nicole eyed Chris. "I don't have to _try_, Stephanie. He'll be wrapped around my finger in a snap of my fingers."

Chris folded his arms and raised a brow. "Right."

Stephanie stepped up and pushed Nicole. "I don't want you here."

"You don't _own _anything or any_one_… Sums up your authority status right now."

"I don't need _you_ here then."

"Like, what are you going to do?" Nicole asked haughtily.

The brunette scoffed, then looked her straight in the eye. "This."

Stephanie was pretty sure that Nicole felt that punch go right into her pretty face. Chris muttered a "Whoa there, girl," and kept her back, literally, and from trouble. "_Bitch!_" she exclaimed. "Let me go!" she struggled, her arms flailing at the blonde. Nicole seemed as if she was about to cry as the tears welled in one eye, but Stephanie didn't quite give a shit. "Let go!" she screamed again.

The scene, obviously, caused much commotion. When Nicole disappeared, Chris let his raged girlfriend go.

"You idiot!" she called him, then she gave him a tight slap across the cheek. "I was so close to annihilating that bitch, and you had to ruin it! What the FUCK is WRONG with you?"

"Stephanie! STEPHANIE!" he yelled, shaking her. "What's wrong with you?"

"Leave me alone. You both just piss me off so much," she replied, on the verge of tears, turning her heel against him. "You will never understand."

Chris watched her leave in complete shock. She slapped him, and basically told him to 'F' off. Perhaps it was because she was just falling into that depression phase. After all, she did just have a terrible ordeal. And maybe he really wouldn't understand. But whatever the case, he was sure to be by her side, no matter what she said, thought or did, or whatever that was going to happen.  
Come what may, they say.

***

"Wake up, Stephy. It's four."

The sound of her brother's voice and his light shaking aroused her from her sleep. "You told me to wake you up, remember?"

Steph woke with lazy eyes. "…Thanks, Shane," she said sleepily, then gave a large, feline yawn. "I think you can leave me alone now," she told him.

"Are you alright?" Shane asked.

"Yes. I'm almost perfect. I've got to do my homework now. Thanks again, Shane."

She got herself up slowly with her arms and rubbed her blurry eyes. The day was so bad. She had been nicest to Shane, and everyone else just made her mad. She didn't even see Pryce. *But at least I got a shot at Nicole,* she thought to herself with much satisfaction. And perhaps she shouldn't have slapped Chris. After all, he was trying to maintain the peace on school grounds.

*Maybe I should call him.*

Suddenly, Shane called her. "Steph, Chris is at the door. You feel like dealing with this scumbag?" She could hear a loud 'hey', and it made the corners of her mouth turn upwards.

"I'll be down," she shouted, straining her vocal chords. Running her fingers through her hair, she thought, *Coincidence… I think I'm going to fall ill.* She got herself out of bed tiredly and dragged her feet on the way down to meet Chris at the door. She squinted at him and rose a brow.

"Can I…"

"Come in," she completed sleepily. "Sit your ass down anywhere." Shane chuckled at her attitude and went away to leave the both of them.

Chris stepped in slowly and sat on the chair next to the sofa. Stephanie pushed the door shut and fell backwards onto the couch. "What?" she mumbled, trying to keep her eyes open.

"Are you feeling alright?" he said, deciding to kneel down in front of her.

"That's the millionth, gazillionth time---"

"Steph, you're not," he said with concern, his fingers brushing over her pink, heated cheeks. "You're not okay."

She gazed at him for awhile. Why couldn't she just admit it? Why couldn't she just say 'I love you so much'? "I'm… I think I'm just feeling a little feverish. So don't come so close."

Chris sighed and they experienced a familiar moment of silence. She shifted to face him, but she didn't smile.

"Why did you… Why did you hit me so hard, Steph? Was I wrong?"

"I slapped you," she said, exhausted, "because you were stupid enough to stop me from sending Nicole a message. Now she most likely is going to round up everyone she knows on the football team to murder me," she replied solemnly.

"You hate each other that much huh?"

"Chris, she's so bent on ruining my life for some unknown, no good reason. I'm just afraid that she really is going to take everything away from me. Including you."

He frowned. "You're never going to lose me. Because I love you."

"Mmm," she replied. But in her heart, she just felt like the day that Chris would be stolen would just… happen. She didn't want to feel that way anymore. If that were to really happen… She never completed the thought.

"I think it's time too that you saw the doctor before that feverish feeling gets worse."

"Whatever," she replied. "…I don't want to see you around her that much."

"She doesn't… She comes to me. I just try my very best to drive away."

She poked him in the chest. "Who told you to come here to be so adorable?" Then she frowned. "Promise me you'll always be there. Wherever 'there' is."

"Promise. Promise, promise, promise, promise," he told her repeatedly. His head leaned on their linked hands.

*But you never keep your promises, Chris.*

~*~

"You didn't say very much about Nicole, Steph," Chris said, scratching his head.

"I don't feel like talking about her," she said. "…Seriously."

"I guess I understand."

"No one will understand how I felt, Chris."

"Oh, hurrah. So you're not gonna tell me how you feel about your relationship with… him," he said. He almost slipped and mentioned 'me'. All he could say was, 'phew'. "That poor guy."

Stephanie glared at him. "That unfeeling jerk." With gritted teeth, she added, "If I ever came across him again, I'll… I'd probably rip out his guts and use them as party decorations, throw acid on his pathetic face and feed his heart to the wildest boars."

"Whoa. Hey, there-there lady. Didn't have to add the details."

"Does it matter? He's not here anyway."

Chris laughed nervously. "Chris Jericho would be a better replacement to make your life as interesting as possible," he said, patting his own chest confidently.

Stephanie sighed. "I hope you're as interesting as you say."

"But of course," he said, leaning in. "Much more interesting than you, anyway."

She leaned in as well. "Who said so?"

Then he moved even closer. "I said so."

Stephanie moved forward like him until their foreheads touched, then she gave him the bitchiest glare she could come up with. "You don't count."

Chris returned an evil stare of his own. "I count like Mathematicians do…"

"Right." They paused for awhile.

"…Can we stop acting like Angle and Benoit feuding now?" Chris chuckled.

"You're right… But I don't feel like moving," she said.

"Me neither…" The smiles on their faces faded. Chris pressed his lips to Stephanie's gently in a soft kiss.

But from one kiss, it became many, each one deepening and more heated with passion as they continued. More daring as they went, Chris stood up and made his way around the desk to engage in more contact with her.

Stephanie broke their kisses and looked at him.

"Chris?"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Not here, not now," she replied, touching her lips with the tips of her fingers. Chris suddenly felt a slight stir in his groin, and just knew she felt completely opposite from what she was saying. "Why not?" he questioned, the lust starting to ignite in his eyes.

Since she hadn't anything to say, his lips descended on hers again, this time lifting her onto her desktop. Without delay, his tongue dipped into her mouth and his fingers ran up her thighs, hiking up her skirt…

"Steph," he whispered in her ear, "Please."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~

A/N: Phew. That's it for now. Be sure to drop a review, thanks. Stay tuned and on the lookout for chapter 8! ~Pearlyn


	8. Thoughtless

I Remember

R  
A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed, you are the people who make my heart jump rope. I am delighted. I'd like to remind readers that this was set in the past, so please understand if the timelines are mixed up. The thoughts are now in bold, easier for you and I. I wanted to make this a song-collaborated chapter with the song 'Thoughtless' by Korn, but I decided against it. Enjoy it anyway.

Chapter 8: Thoughtless

Stephanie hadn't seen Chris in ages after the last incident they had, an estimated three weeks. She didn't care if three weeks was just less than a month, it just seemed long to her. They didn't make it any further than her thighs, because she didn't want problems and consequences; she was responsible, and she had a name to keep. Chris left reluctantly, and they never kept in touch since. Somehow, Stephanie wasn't quite sure how to feel about him at the moment. Things happened in time, and she and Chris couldn't keep in touch much.

"Knock-knock," a voice rose from behind the door.

"C'mon in," Stephanie replied, not looking up from her work.

"You were supposed to say 'who's there', Steph."

"…Chris! It's so nice to see you… It's been awhile."

"Yes!" he sounded quite excited. "I guess it has. He sat himself down on a chair. Stephanie thought he looked just as good without the two championship belts hanging from both his arms lazily. "Anything new?"

"Not really. Getting divorce papers ready in a couple of months."

"Good to know. That's right for me to say, right?"

Steph nodded with a smile. "Yes, it's alright."

"Gee, I've missed that." Upon his words, she looked up quizzically. "Your smile."

She could feel herself getting a bit embarrassed, but it wouldn't keep her from a retort. "I can't say the same about you," she said, "after always seeing those evil smirks on the television."

"Those weren't evil smirks!" he defended. "Oh, I heard that in the near future, they're gonna set me up with someone."

"And it concerns me because?"  
"I don't know… I'm just saying." Chris was blushing profusely at this point, just by trying to get a hint of jealousy out of her. "Anyway, where were we when we spoke of our past?"

Being successful in changing the subject, Stephanie replied, "I'm not too sure."

"Ooh yeah… Nicole."

"Is it my turn or yours to tell?"  
"I don't know. Let's hear from you today."

"Here goes then…"

~*~

__

Summer was coming close, and I couldn't wait for school to be over. However, with the turn of events affecting me in the past few months… Things got worse as they went on. That's when all hell broke loose on me, the worst –well, almost- of my adolescence was to begin.

Stephanie was at her locker, staring at the books she dumped inside blankly.

Her week was bad, very bad. She felt as if the whole world was against her. Shane had an accident while driving on the way home, Chris was worrying too much, Pryce was hung over Connor's many problems, and Nicole was all over her back. James was settled; Vince and Linda had paid for the cost of the lawyers' charges.

Steph slammed the locker door shut, out of frustration. **I hate my life. **She leaned her head against the door and sighed.

"My, my, haven't we got a lot to do today?"

Nicole's voice made her freeze.

"You know what to do with her guys."

Her eyes widened. **Do what?!**

A hand whipped her around and another guy held her against the lockers. No passer-by would dare interfere with one of the largest football quarterbacks, as he held her in his grasp. Suddenly, she thought, **Where the _SCREW _is Chris?** She handled a first blow to her face, fist connecting to bone, hard.

"You'd do anything for money, huh?" she yelled at him. "How much did that bitch pay you? A dollar? Her so called virginity?" With that, she received a slap where she had been hit. "…I'm not afraid of any of you." She managed to kick her legs forward, and luckily, it struck him where it hurt most between his legs and attempted to escape. **Chris, I need you now.** Unfortunately, she did not go very far, as a guy whom she only recognised as Ryan from he Swim team had caught her bag netting and pulled her back, causing her to stumble and fall. **Oh shit,** ran through her mind when she went down.

"You're not running that fast, missy."

"Let me, GO!" she screamed helplessly. "LET, ME, GO!"

"We can't do that," the football player, Mike Warner said, tossing her over his shoulder. "I'll be bringing you somewhere."

*

"Where the fuck are you taking me?!" Stephanie demanded to know.

"To see Nicole," Ryan replied, following behind Mike. "She's left seconds after the first punch."

She was then put down on the ground. Nicole took a little while to appear.

****

The basketball court.

"Hold her," she heard her arch-rival say.

Stephanie struggled her best to free herself from the strong holds of two people, another two sitting at the side to watch. However, the two holding her were too massive to defy, it seemed.

"What do you want?" Steph spat, eyes gleaming with a scheming revenge already.

"To damage your sweet little face, just like you had to mine…" she stoked Stephanie's chin with false affection, "And of course, try to claim your Chris," she added, pouting her lips.

Stephanie looked away in disgust. "Screw you, bitch."

"What was that?" Nicole said, tilting her victim's head up. She then threw a punch at the apple of her cheek. It didn't hurt that badly, but the ring she wore sure did like hell. Steph felt a knee connecting directly to her gut, and collapsed. Her hair was in locks and strands over her face, which Nicole softly pushed away. "I actually wonder what Chris sees in you. I mean, you don't even look half as good as I do."

A sharp slap hit the brunette's face, but she was unshaken. "That's because I'm not some playgirl tramp," she whispered, refusing to shed tears. "Why not you ask him yourself?"

Stephanie felt herself fading away as continuous blows were delivered. She could already taste the blood that came from her mouth (or was it her nose?), and still held back the tears of pain she felt when Nicole kicked her –really hard- in the gut.

"That's too much already," she heard Ryan's voice. Her vision was too blurred to identify the people around. "Stop it."

"Don't tell me what to do," Nicole shot back, pointing a finger at him. She turned back to an abused Stephanie. "You're lucky I don't feel like teaching you a harder lesson. Mess with me and you will face the serious consequences." With a final haughty snort, she walked away triumphantly, the boys following behind, except for Ryan.

Stephanie fell to the floor, absolutely drained of life. **Chris, where are you? Where the FUCK are you?**

Ryan helped her up to a sitting position.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what drove me to be part of that gang," he said. Steph harshly pulled her arm away from his touch, but simply had no energy to keep herself up, even on her knees. When she fell, the rough ground of the court grazed her skin on her elbows, and caused an abrasion on her temple.

"Get…" she started, "Go away." She took in a deep breath. "Go away."

She was chewing on her lip, rocking to and fro like she always did when she was distressed.

"I'm truly, very sorry," Ryan apologised again.

But she had lost her cool. "…I said go away. Get the fuck away from me!" With backward steps, Ryan left reluctantly. **Where were you Chris? Where were you?**

Then the leaves fell from the warm breeze that blew.

****

*

My world is coming down on me.

Stephanie wiped the blood that oozed from her still-fresh wounds she had gotten earlier. She hasn't cried yet; she was saving that for before she slept.

She was waiting for someone, anyone to come along. But soon on the inside, she felt as if no one was there for her. Chris wasn't there to protect her.

Steph threw the piece of tissue dotted with blood behind her shoulder. No one needed to know about this. Not even Chris.

"Are you doing okay?"

Ryan McDonough sat opposite from her on the table. She didn't answer.

"I understand if you won't talk to me. I'm sorry for what happened." He shifted. "I quit."

"Should I care?"

"If it makes you feel any better, they beat me up too."

Stephanie looked up at him. "…You got hurt?"

"And I have the same scars to prove it." He rolled up his long sleeves, revealing arms spotted with ugly bruises and cuts. His right forearm looked bad; a light pink could be seen, blood clearly clotting randomly on top of it. "Made me go down to the floor and kinda rubbed me all over gravel and cement," he said rather light-heartedly. She grimaced at the graphic images that formed in her head.

"Why would you want to talk to me? I'm boring, and very beaten, if you haven't noticed already," Stephanie said.

Ryan shook his head. "You're stronger than anyone I've ever seen… You spoke up for yourself and never let Nicole bring you down. It's what gave me the balls to call it quits with them in the first place. At least you're better off than I am."

****

You don't even know the inside story yet, she thought, but pasted a convincing smile on for him. "Thanks," she finally replied.

The bell rung shortly, which meant that she had missed a complete day of lessons. Due to the recent tragedies, the play had been cancelled, replaced by normal English lessons. They were important for the finals.

Very soon, Chris rushed to her. Ryan had departed quietly, and Chris took his place. "What happened? You missed a lot of stuff."

Steph had her head bowed down, buried in her cut arms. "I got beat up."

"WHAT?!" Chris exclaimed. "Look at me, Steph."

She lifted her head slowly. She was absolutely battered, her eyes empty.

"Tell me who did it," Chris urged gently.

"No."

"Tell me."

"No!" she shouted. "I called for you, Chris, my heart was crying out for you… But you weren't there. You promised."

Right now, she didn't have enough heart to continue speaking with her closest any longer. "Excuse me while I return home."

Her feet carried her blindly to wherever she would head to, but Ryan stepped in front of her. "Your boyfriend, I assume." He pointed to Chris with a thumb.

"Whatever," Steph replied, then remained silent. Chit chat was so useless these days.

"Has he been treating you well lately?" he asked as she continued to walk.

"I'm fine with him. He's really great and all."

"Hmm. That sounded convincing," he uttered with sarcasm.

"…Look, what I do, how I live is none of your business. If you're trying to socialise, I'm sorry that I'm making it tough for you. Maybe you can try again when I'm NOT angry and sad and when you've brushed up on those social skills."

She felt like killing herself now. What the hell was he trying to do, be another James? **I've had enough.** She quickly ran somewhere, anywhere, just as long as it was from away from school. **Please let all of this stop. Please.**

She didn't know where she was, but she passed a sign that said 'Coleman Street' and settled under a tree. She didn't care if the dirt caked on her expensive denim or if her hair was out of place. She didn't care if she had chipped nails or that the bruises and cuts still hurt. All she wanted was for everyone to just leave her alone, so she could have time to herself for some reflecting. Did she do anything to deserve this?

Then she wondered how she was able to cope with what she was experiencing so well, without breaking down mentally and being able to stay hopeful for the next day.

She took out her wallet. **How much will sleeping pills and anti-depressants cost?** She got up, dusting off her back pockets and tank top, and checked inside her wallet. Twenty dollars could buy you quite a bit. But Stephanie made the decision to buy pills…

"Steph?"

She looked up, then kept her wallet away. "What do you want, Chris?" she said, acting tired. But she was tired. She was also still feeling sore about the day.

"I want to… Steph, I'm sorry I wasn't there. I didn't know something like this would happen."

"Yes you did! Chris, you KNEW Nicole would do anything to ruin me! She'll be taking you away."

Chris went to her immediately in an embrace. "Baby, I'm never going anywhere. Not to anyone, except you."

Stephanie was confused and unsure about everything. But for the moment, she never felt safer in Chris' arms, like she always thought. When she looked at him, she could see him examine the extent on damage that had been inflicted. His thumb brushed over a healed incision on her cheek. His eyes had an assurance to them as he told her, "I love you," and that it was for real.

But that didn't change her mind about going to the nearest pharmacy.

"Chris," she said, "I'm going to stop by at the store for awhile, if that's okay with you."

"…Sure. Walk you home?"

"…No, I'll be alright by myself today," she replied, then kissed him softly. "Bye Chris."

She hated her life now. In fact, she was going to hate it even more. Chris went back home hesitantly after she insisted that he left her, and so she walked slowly to the direction of where she thought the pharmacy was.

Unfortunately, the boys who skated past her down the road halted abruptly and went after her. Part two of the bad day was about to begin.

"Still haven't scooted back home after what Nicole did to you?" The familiar Mike Warner said, stepping in front of her.

"It's a wonder how that board holds your fat ass. Did my kick to your balls affect your brain matter? Because it sure seems like it's gotten smaller," she retorted bravely. "Oh, I remember now… You had no one to stroke your ego for the day."

"Your mouth needs a little working on, McMahon." His hand held her by the cheeks. She winced as she felt his fingers disturb her healing wounds.

"…The piece of crap in your skull needs fixing."

He pushed her back up on a tree, and she started to feel afraid. Another guy took over, Trevor Lee Birkins, captain of the basketball team. He was the other guy who watched alongside Ryan.

"You're a tough chick… I wonder if you'll be just as rough?"

Her brow furrowed as he worked his hand up her shirt. Even if his looks were passable, good even, she was never going to let anything like this happen again. "Oh God," she thrashed wildly, "You sick FUCK!" She managed to shove him back.

"We have a feisty one in our hands," Trevor said, rubbing his hands together.

Stephanie made a run for it again, but for the second time, she was caught. "No!" she yelled, and struggled to break free. Trevor was on top of her now, but because of his smaller physique compared to Mike, her was easier to push off.

"Get off her!" a familiar voice shouted.

****

Pryce? Pryce!

Then there was another voice. "You go help her.

Pryce gave the hardest kick to Trevor, which immediately got him off. It was then when Ryan came to her aid.

"Are you alright?" he asked, helping her up.

"…I'm fine. Thanks guys."

Pryce's face was filled with worry. "I think you need bodyguards, and I'm serious about that! Luckily we caught some hints they were dropping, and Ryan heard you."

"What were you doing with him?"

"He's my neighbour, and we live just there. Coleman street, remember?"

****

Right… I've been through too much to remember.

I… I uh, I need to go." She shrugged off all arms on her.

*

Stephanie popped the cap of the bottle of sleeping pills. **One before I sleep, and a glass of water.** She took one and downed it as directed. Hopefully, she wouldn't have nightmares.

The phone rang, and she gave a little grumble. "Hello, Stephanie here…"

"I knew I should have stayed with you. Steph, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry----"

"How many times are you going to apologise? What's past is past, and it's not your fault. I told you to leave, and you did, and I appreciate that you respect my decisions and requests," she said.

"But Steph, I can't forgive myself."

"Chris, you're not to blame…" she yawned. _Pop._

"What's that?"

"What's what?" Then she yawned again.  
"You're taking sleeping pills."

"What?"

"You yawned, and I know that sound, it's those medicine bottles." He paused. "Steph, please, don't do anything stupid."

There was urgency in his voice that moment. Stephanie sighed. "I promise."

"What are they for?" Chris asked.

"I'm making sure I get a good night's sleep. You have to understand."

"I will. Just wanted to know." Stephanie yawned again. "I guess I'll let you sleep. Take care, and always remember that I love you."

"Mm," was all she replied. She hasn't admitted that she returned the sentiment completely yet. She was going to say only if she was really sure that he was right. Not that she didn't trust him… She just felt that waiting a little longer might make her see a few things. It was an important feeling inside. "Goodnight, Chris."

"'Night, baby."

When she put the phone down, she sank back into her bed, staring at the ceiling. As her eyelids became heavier with each passing minute, she thought about the next day. Would it all happen again? Maybe she needed the security. But suddenly, swimmer Ryan McDonough comes in, and now he looked like he was Clark Kent protecting his Louis Lane.

Maybe she was being harsh on her boyfriend. After all, he really cared. Stephanie herself didn't know what she was waiting for.

Thoughts of Nicole invaded her mind, and all she could think of was what she did and all the other possibilities she was capable of doing. **She wants to steal Chris too. I bet it's another excuse to wreck my life, bitch.**

*

Stephanie stared at the clock, dazed. **Just 3 more minutes until the bell rings. 3 more painful minutes.**

"Pay attention, Stephanie," History jerk Harrim said, tapping his pointer on the desk. She kept silent and fixed her eyes on the chalkboard. However, her mind was off somewhere else.

Listening to the bell ring brought her relief. She used to love going to school, but now, just stepping into the compound… She dreaded it. With quick steps she escaped her class wearily, dumping her unneeded textbooks into her locker, fast. She didn't care if people thought she was paranoid.

"Stephanie!"

Her head snapped to the direction of the voice. It was Ryan again. What was his problem? She didn't need him. She needed Jericho. Mr Chris Jericho. Chris, her boyfriend.

"How are you doing today?" he asked, observing her. The wounds had healed, but her abrasions and bruises were still very bad, stinging almost every second.

"What do you think?" she shot back annoyingly. "You should know yourself." Despite her mood, Ryan was still nice about it.

"I thought I'd walk you home today… Pryce suggested it too."  
"Oh Pryce," she muttered. "Did you have to care so much?"

"If it's alright with you, that is," he added.

"It's fine by me," Steph replied. "…Let's go then." She shut her locker door and turned to face him. "I uh, I guess I'm gonna be waiting for Chris."

As if on cue, his voice sounded gloomily. "What are you doing here?"

Stephanie saw Chris standing in front of her when she turned around. "Pryce told him to walk me home."

"What the HELL are you doing with Ryan McDonough?" He pulled her to his side closely, away from the swimmer.

"Yeah, what am I doing with him?…I don't know. But he was there on two occasions too, when you weren't. Fair enough?"

Ouch. Chris fell silent, but his eyes told her everything. He had something serious against Ryan, and she didn't like it one bit.

"Could I have a word with you?" Chris questioned, turning her around and bringing her aside.

"What?"

"Did you know he's after Connor?" Stephanie was surprised.

"Connor?"

"He's the guy that Connor's been borrowing from. Well, not really. Ryan's like a guy collecting for the overlord."

"Your point?" she asked, not understanding anything.

"Is there something I should know?" Ryan said, feeling a little left out. "Because I could –"

"No, no, stay there," Steph said, gesturing for him to stay put. She turned back to Chris.

"You don't understand. If he doesn't pay in time, he's going to die. And the problem is, there's a small chance Pryce will be involved, being his present-day girl." Steph's eyes widened.

"You mean Pryce can… get killed too, then?"

"Anything to get the money."

Stephanie turned to look at Ryan. He was a nice guy… He might have been sort of coming onto her unsuccessfully, but she didn't know if it was for personal reasons, or just to get close to Connor…

"You know what? You both can walk me home, just for today. How does that sound?" She gave Chris a pleading glance.

"…Ok," Ryan said.

"…Whatever. Okay." Chris rolled his eyes.

*  
_I wasn't quite stable at that time, so I spent my time in the bathroom. What the hell I really did in there, I couldn't really give a damn to remember._

Her eyes scanned the mirror. Her fingers reached out to touch the scabs that formed on her temple and cheek. Who did it? Was it her fault?

Was it Nicole's? James'? Chris'?

Hers?

****

These are kind of bad.

What did she ever do wrong? Her hands, marked with faint bruises, close, leaving a finger pointing out at the mirror.

****

This is you. And you turned out like this.

Stephanie gave herself a good look in the mirror. She did look very worn out, and perhaps anxious too. **I think I need more medication to add to my list.**

She turned her face sideways. **He could've been there, but he wasn't. Why? He promised. Five times.**

"Stephy?" the sound of her brother's voice rang outside. "Are you alright in there?"

"Yes, I'm fine, Shane," she answered hesitantly. "Just finished washing up."

"Okay. Don't be in there too long."

****

Quick, get your tablets, a voice inside her said. **Do it before anyone finds out.**

So quickly, she took off the cap and popped one into her mouth. "Oh God," she said to herself, "I feel so drained…" And then, she came out, laid on her bed, and drifted off to sleep.


End file.
